Anti-AIDS worker sentenced to 5 years in a Cameroon prison for homosexuality
Psychological counselor was convicted on the basis of consensual sex with a 17-year-old
By Steeves Winner
A court in Douala, Cameroon, has sentenced psychological counselor Denis Watonwa to five years in prison on charges of homosexuality and assault on a minor.
Watonwa was among 13 people arrested on Sept. 30 in a raid on the headquarters of the anti-AIDS and LGBTI rights advocacy group Alternatives Cameroon. The raid was conducted by the local Public Prosecutor accompanied by law enforcement and Interpol agents.
The other 12 arrestees have been set free, but Watonwa was convicted on April 23 and sentenced to five years in prison because he had been in a consensual sexual relationship with a 17-year-old client of Alternatives Cameroon. That youth was one of the 13 people arrested on Sept. 30.
Watonwa hopes to have that sentence reduced or overturned, but would need $400 in legal costs in order to file an appeal. The funds are needed by April 30. CLICK HERE to donate to his legal support, medical care and food. Watonwa’s friends are concerned that he has been discussing suicide.
In the wake of the raid, about 1,800 HIV patients were stranded without anti-AIDS treatment because the region’s public health division ordered Alternatives to cease operations.
As a result, Alternative closed. Neither it nor Watonwa has any more financial support from abroad.
Watonwa’s sentence is the maximum allowed for homosexual activity under Article 347-1 of the Cameroonian penal code.
After the raid, most of the 12 arrestees were granted provisional release, including drop-in center manager Hermine Ngo Ndaptie. Before their release, four were transferred to New Bell Prison in Douala for pretrial detention on charges of homosexuality and promoting transgender identity.
An anal examination was ordered of Watonwa, who is in his 60s; the 17-year-old boy; and peer educators Fotie Zidane and Oumarou Ousmanou. It found nothing.
Forced anal exams have long been denounced by medical authorities around the world as useless and even a form of torture.
Steeves Winner, the author of this article, is a Cameroonian journalist who writes under a pseudonym. Contact him at steeves.w@yahoo.com.
