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Cameroonian athlete set to complain to UN Human Rights Committee about detention in Belarus

A Cameroonian athlete who spent more than 40 days in custody in Belarus over what the authorities described as fake travel documents has announced plans to complain about his detention to the UN Human Rights Committee, BelaPAN reports.

Guy Francois Toukam, a goalkeeper of Norway's IOF, was arrested on June 1 when he and his teammates arrived in Minsk to take part in a futsal tournament.

A border control official at the airport said that his passport was fake and the man was jailed for 44 days before his identity was confirmed.

The Cameroonian, who has a Spanish residence permit, described the accusation and detention as illegal and called his stay in Belarus an ordeal that nearly drove him to suicide.

He stressed that he had been denied access to an interpreter or a lawyer and faced appalling detention conditions.

When reached by BelaPAN, Alyaksandr Tsishchanka, spokesman for Belarus' State Border Committee, described Mr. Toukam's accusations as baseless, noting that the man had been provided with an interpreter and had waived his right to legal aid.

He said that Cameroonian and Spanish diplomats had visited the athlete and "agreed with Belarusian experts' conclusions that the passport was fake."

The State Border Committee's experts said that a bogus data page with the man's photograph had been illegally inserted into the passport, according to Mr. Tsishchanka.

They also questioned his year of birth - 1982 - stated in the passport, suggesting that the Cameroonian was older.

The spokesman noted that Mr. Toukam had spent more than 40 days in custody because documents confirming his identity had arrived only on July 14. He was deported to Spain the following day.

Mr. Tsishchanka said that the Cameroonian had paid €1,200 to obtain the passport. However, the man was not charged by the Belarusian authorities as he claimed that he was unaware that the travel document was a fake one.

It is the Spanish immigration authorities rather than the UN Human Rights Committee that should be concerned about the Cameroonian's story, Mr. Tsishchanka said.