Three Cameroonian soldiers have been sentenced to prison for their role in the killing of at least 21 civilians in the country’s troubled Anglophone region.
The jail terms for the crimes, which took place six years ago in the Northwest region, range from five to 10 years per person.
A military court previously found the soldiers guilty of murder, arson and destruction – a rare occurrence in a country where military personnel are seldom convicted of crimes against civilians.
Nevertheless, lawyers for the victims told the BBC they were disappointed with the length of the jail terms handed down on Thursday, calling them “insignificant”.
The convictions centre on the events of 14 February 2020, when soldiers, supported by a local militia of ethnic Fulanis, raided the village of Ngarbuh and killed civilians.
The victims included 13 children, according to Human Rights Watch, who added that the assailants burnt down homes and beat up residents.
What followed was a rare instance of Cameroon’s government acknowledging the atrocities of its soldiers in the Anglophone regions, which have been wracked by a separatist conflict for nearly 10 years.
The authorities initially denied responsibility for the attack on Ngarbuh but later backpedalled following international pressure and the findings of an investigation ordered by the country’s President, Paul Biya.
Alongside the three soldiers sentenced on Thursday evening, a militia member also received a jail term for murder, arson and destruction.
One of the victims’ lawyers, Sother Menkem, told the BBC: “The sentence was so mild, I even qualify it as friendly because we are talking of a massacre.”
Menkem pointed out that under Cameroonian law, the minimum sentence for felonies such as murder and arson is 10 years.
“I expected at least 30 years’ imprisonment or more because [the soldiers] instilled much fear on the inhabitants of that area,” he said.
The soldiers’ lawyers argued that their clients were merely doing their job.
A man who lost several relatives in the February 2020 attack told the BBC he needed time to process the court’s decision.
He has since moved out of the conflict-hit region for safety reasons.
The military court rejected the victims’ demand for compensation, a move decried by another of their lawyers, Richard Tamfu.
Human Rights Watch and legal representatives of the victims have insisted that the soldiers were acting on the instructions from their superiors and therefore criticise the fact that no senior military officer was prosecuted at the trial.
The case dragged on for six years after hearings were postponed multiple times.
Since 2017, separatist fighters in the country’s two English-speaking regions have been campaigning for the creation of a breakaway state.
Human rights groups have accused both the rebels and state forces of committing widespread abuses.
The UN says the conflict has killed at least 6,000 people and forced over half a million others to flee their homes.
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