OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian police said on Wednesday they had arrested a man on suspicion of incitement to crimes against humanity in Cameroon, and they sought an Oslo court’s permission to keep him in preventive custody while the investigation continues.
Police said in a statement the man was in his 50s and was suspected of playing a key role in an ongoing armed conflict in the central African country.
A spokesperson for the Oslo district court named the man as Cho Lucas Yabah.
His lawyer, Morten Engesbak, said the suspect would plead not guilty to the accusations against him and opposed the police demand for him to be kept in custody.
“He believes the case is based on an incorrect understanding of the situation in Cameroon and of his role,” Engesbak said in a statement to Reuters, adding that Yabah was cooperating with the investigation.
Separatists have been fighting government forces in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions since 2017 to protest over what they see as marginalisation by the majority French-speaking authorities.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the conflict and human rights group Amnesty International has accused government troops, militias and separatists of killings, rapes, torture, burning of houses and other abuses.
“Norway has an international responsibility to ensure that we are not a free haven for people who commit war crimes or crimes against humanity,” Norwegian police investigator Anette Berger said in a statement.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik and Gareth Jones)
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