terrorist acts, he was tortured while held incommunicado for three months. The trial of three journalists – Rodrigue Tongué, Felix Ebole Bola and Baba Wamé – continued at Yaoundé Military Court. They were charged in October 2014 with nondenunciation of information and sources. If convicted, they could face up to five years’ imprisonment. Trial proceedings were marred by substantive and procedural irregularities, including the refusal by the judges to allow witnesses to testify. Aboubakar Siddiki, leader of the political party Mouvement patriotique du salut camerounais, and Abdoulaye Harissou, a well-known notary, faced trial alongside the three journalists. Arrested in August 2014, they were both held incommunicado at the DGRE for more than 40 days before being transferred to Prison Principale in Yaoundé. They faced charges of illegal possession and use of weapons of war, murder, revolution, insulting the head of state and hostility against the state. Fomusoh Ivo Feh, arrested in December 2014 in Limbe for forwarding a sarcastic text message about Boko Haram, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Yaoundé Military Court on 2 November for “non-denunciation of a terrorist act”. Convicted on the basis of limited and unverifiable evidence, his trial was marred by irregularities, including the lack of an interpreter. IMPUNITY On 11 July, the State Secretary to the Minister of Defence in charge of the national gendarmerie said that a commission of inquiry to investigate crimes committed by the security forces engaged in operations against Boko Haram would be set up. No further information was provided. In August, the trial of gendarmerie Colonel Zé Onguéné Charles, charged with negligence and breach of custody law, started before Yaoundé Military Court. The Colonel was in charge of the region where, on 27-28 December 2014, at least 25 men accused of supporting Boko Haram died while detained in a gendarmerie building. 108 PRISON CONDITIONS Prison conditions remained poor, marked by chronic overcrowding, inadequate food, limited medical care, and deplorable hygiene and sanitation. Maroua prison housed around 1,400 detainees, more than three times its intended capacity. The population of the central prison in Yaoundé was approximately 4,000, despite a maximum capacity of 2,000. In Prison Principale in Yaoundé, the majority of suspected Boko Haram detainees were permanently chained until August. The main factors contributing to overcrowding included the mass arrests of people accused of supporting Boko Haram, the large number of detainees held without charge, and the ineffective judicial system. The government promised to build new prisons and began constructing 12 new cells for the prison in Maroua. The measures were considered insufficient to resolve the crisis. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS At least 276,000 refugees from the Central African Republic lived in harsh conditions in crowded camps or with host families along border areas of southeastern Cameroon. Some 59,000 refugees from Nigeria lived in the UN-run Minawao camp in the Far North region, but around 27,000 others struggled to cope outside the camp, facing food insecurity, lack of access to basic services and harassment by the security forces. The insecurity created by both Boko Haram and the military also led to the internal displacement of around 199,000 people in the Far North region. Agreements between Cameroon, Nigeria, Central African Republic and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to facilitate voluntary return of refugees were being finalized at the end of the year. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE LGBTI people continued to face discrimination, intimidation, harassment and violence. The criminalization of same-sex sexual relations was retained when the Criminal Code was revised in June. Amnesty International Report 2016/17