Lapiro saga: State demands severe sanctions after a three-year mandatory jail term and a fine of 280 million FCFA

The state prosecutor at the Nkongsamba High Court in the republic of Cameroon has filed an appeal requesting severe sanctions for Laprio de Mbanga, one of the country's best-known singers.

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

Lapiro was convicted for taking part in riots in February that authorities said left several people dead. Among others the singer is the author of a song criticising a constitutional reform that will allow the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya to seek re-election in 2011.

His home of Mbanga was one of several Cameroonian towns that saw riots in February over the high cost of living and the constitutional reform.

Though authorities here had accused Lapiro, an influential member of the opposition Social Democratic Front, of being one of the orchestrators of the riots, his supporters have said the 51-year-old singer is victimised for his songs, which often criticise the government.

Lapiro's wife denied that her husband had taken part in the riots. “He had actually calmed people down so that they wouldn't set fire to the city hall," the wife once told the press.
Despite criticism from the press both at home and abroad as well as human right groups, on Lapiro’s arrest and detaintion, the Nkongsamba high court on 24^th September slammed a three-year mandatory jail term and a fine of 280 million FCFA on the singer.

But the state prosecutor at the same Nkongsamba High Court has filed an appeal requesting heavier sanctions for Laprio de Mbanga. The same prosecutor, who was acting on behalf of the state and the Societé des Plantations de Mbanga which accused Lapiro of commandeering the wrecking by riotous youth of their plantations and other installations; had demanded a 20-year jail term and a fine of 1.8 billion FCFA during Lapiro’s trial. But judges ruled otherwise.
The blunt anti-government critic who was only last Wednesday, 29 October, transferred to the Newbell Prison in Douala, the economic capital pending the start of appeal hearings on the same case filed by his lawyers soon after his conviction has always held that the case is politically motivated. His lawyers are questioning why Lapiro received far heavier punishment than other rioters who were served 18-month terms and no fines. They argue that even so, Lapiro was named as an “accomplice” in the destruction and burning and looting that marked the unrest.

The artist who says he has stopped smoking and drinking and is building a new life in prison once told reporters that his only hope remains the appeal. He said the government had decided to “finish” him and destroy all of the 30 years he spent constructing a career as a musician. He is lodged at the famed cell no. 18 at the VIP quarters at Newbell and guards say he receives at least three visitors daily – the highest for inmates there.