2024-06-07 11:10:35
A sordid affair shakes Cameroon’s diplomatic illustration in Paris. A senior officer stationed on the embassy is suspected of getting repeatedly raped his 16-year-old daughter. However his standing as a diplomatic agent is at present hampering the investigation, regardless of the seriousness of the alleged info.
A damaged teenager, damning accusations
It was a misery name that began all of it. On Could 25, a girl contacted the emergency room to report that her 16-year-old stepdaughter was complaining of vaginal ache after an alleged rape dedicated by her personal father, as revealed by Le Parisien. The rescuers alerted the police however the sufferer, in a state of shock, had already left the scene once they arrived. She is going to lastly be taken to the medical-judicial unit the place medical doctors word a crack within the perineum, an damage attribute of a sexual assault. Interviewed, {the teenager} confirms the info and specifies that it was not the primary time. “The sufferer stated this was the third time her father raped her”, studies a supply near the matter to 237online.com. Appalling accusations which level to an sudden suspect: a colonel within the Cameroonian military, working on the embassy.
Diplomatic immunity, the suspect’s protect
Contacted by investigators, the suspect, deputy protection attaché, instantly took refuge behind his diplomatic immunity. A standing which protects him from any prosecution beneath the 1961 Vienna Conference, successfully paralyzing investigations. “When the police contacted the daddy, the latter instantly invoked his diplomatic immunity, thus blocking the investigation“, confirms a judicial supply. A Kafkaesque situation which leaves the suspect untouchable for the second regardless of the seriousness of the suspicions weighing on him. The one choice to elevate this “protect”: for France to formally ask Cameroon to elevate the immunity of its nationwide, a uncommon and eminently political step. “ The matter is the topic of discussions however would require the settlement of the Cameroonian authorities”, we slip on the Quai d’Orsay, refusing to remark additional on this extremely delicate challenge. The Cameroonian embassy in Paris stays silent regardless of our requests.
A younger woman left to her personal units
And the sufferer in all this? Terrified on the concept of being positioned in a shelter, {the teenager} initially hesitated to take care of her damning testimony, earlier than altering her thoughts. She was lastly taken into care by Youngster Welfare (ASE) to guard her from her alleged tormentor. However the subsequent day, the younger woman ran away, leaving her to fend for herself, removed from her household. “That is the worst-case situation. This youngster is in nice hazard, presumably manipulated. All the things should be performed to search out her as shortly as doable and produce her to security”, is alarmed by a sufferer assist affiliation. Within the meantime, the suspect stays presumed harmless, protected by a standing which de facto locations him above the regulation. An untenable scenario confronted with the phrases of an remoted and bruised minor, emblematic of the silence that may reign in sure embassies.
A state affair that embarrasses Paris and Yaoundé
Past the human drama, it’s a actual state affair which is poisoning relations between Paris and Yaoundé. Confronted with the media explosion and the seriousness of the info, the Cameroonian authorities will in the end be known as upon to react. However Paul Biya’s regime, reluctant to be clear, appears to be turning its again for the second. An angle which locations Emmanuel Macron in a fragile place, torn between the necessity to not fall out with a strategic ally and the crucial to carry out the reality in such a sordid matter. Particularly for the reason that scandal comes on the worst time, within the midst of controversy over the brand new invoice aimed toward higher defending victims of sexual violence. A merciless reminder of the burdens that also too typically hinder the speech of ladies who’ve been attacked. It stays to be seen whether or not this umpteenth rape case involving an African diplomat will lastly transfer the traces. Feminist associations are already on a battle footing…