For more than eight years, Ambazonian detainee Miyaou Kome has remained behind bars in French Cameroun’s Kondengui Maximum Security Prison without a final judgement. Now, after years of waiting, delays and uncertainty, his long search for justice is reaching what many hope will be a decisive turning point.
The French Cameroun Military Tribunal in Yaoundé is expected to resume hearing his case on July 16, 2026, bringing renewed hope that a man who has consistently maintained his innocence may finally receive the justice he has sought since his arrest in 2017.
Miyaou Kome, born on June 10, 1996, in Bangourain, Bui County, Ambazonia, trained as a mechanic before relocating to Yaoundé in 2014 to seek employment. According to court documents presented by the defence, he was arrested on December 5, 2017, at a checkpoint in Shang, Bui County, while travelling to attend a relative’s traditional marriage ceremony.
French Cameroun security forces later accused him of participating in attacks allegedly carried out in Jakiri, Bui County, on November 6, 2017. The allegations included the burning of public buildings and the killing of a gendarme.
From the very beginning, Miyaou Kome has rejected every accusation. He insists he was living and working in Yaoundé when the alleged attacks occurred and had no connection whatsoever to the incidents.
Despite his repeated denials, he was transferred to Kondengui Prison on January 26, 2018, where he has remained in detention ever since. His case was later merged with that of seven other defendants, but years have passed without a final verdict.
His defence team, led by renowned human rights lawyer Barrister Tamfu Richard, argues that investigators failed to produce credible evidence linking Miyaou Kome to the alleged crimes. According to the defence, none of the other suspects identified him as an accomplice. Instead, the lawyers contend that French Cameroun investigators arrested the wrong man after confusing him with another individual bearing a similar name.
Barrister Tamfu Richard is expected to urge the military tribunal to examine both the absence of credible evidence and the legality of keeping an accused person in detention for more than eight years without a final judgement.
