Douala: Gendarmes torture lawyer who resists arrest of client

The videos went viral on social media. Two gendarmes are seen smashing a lawyer, Barrister Tamfu Richard, inside their pickup car on November 28, 2024, in Bonaberi Douala.

The lawyer had just resisted the arrest of his client, a 70-year-old woman, who was almost taken away by the Gendarmes for her son’s action.

A source close to the case told CNA that a woman in Cameroon wanted to buy a bus worth FCFA 20 million from an agent based in Germany.

The agent had asked her to deposit the money in his mother’s account in Cameroon. Three months later, the bus had not been bought.

Angered by this, the client reached out to the State Counsel in Bonanjo, Douala who referred the case to the Gendarmerie for investigation and arrest.

On Wednesday, the client called the mother of the agent to a location where she was supposed to meet with the Gendarmes for arrest. The mother hired the services of Barrister Tamfu Richard who accompanied her to the location.

At the venue, gendarmes said there was an ongoing investigation, and they should go to the office but Barrister Tamfu said, a summons does not mean arrest, pleading with them to allow his client and give them time to respond.

Things got heated with gendarmes bundling the lawyer into their pickup, smashing him to the viewing of bystanders.

The source who begged not to be named said the Lawyer agitated too much because at that point there was a lack of communication between the gendarmes and the lawyer.

“Do they arrest someone with a summons? A summons is not a warrant of arrest” Tamfu Richard told CNA in a chat.

Tamfu Richard was later released before he sought medical attention in a Douala hospital.

“Feeling much better compared to yesterday,” he said.

The woman was however kept in custody at the Groupement.