In Cameroon, the supreme chief of Baloum and eight other individuals implicated in the double murder of young people in this locality of the country’s western region have been charged and sent to the Dschang central prison.

New developments in the case of two youths burned alive in Baloum! On Thursday, 25 June, the chief of Baloum and eight others pursued in this matter were formally charged and jailed at the Dschang central prison. According to the lawyer representing the family of Steve Diffo, the chief and his co-accused face charges of murder, torture, complicity in murder and torture, and failure to possess a national identity card. “No human being, even one sentenced to death by normative justice, should have to endure such a fate,” the lawyer stated.

At the centre of this case are Bostel Kemta and his friend Steve Achille Diffo Sijamo. The two men, both in their thirties, were kidnapped, tortured, and burned alive on 5 June in Baloum, in Cameroon’s western region, by a group of local residents, with the village chief Charles Constant Pokam Noussi watching. Accused of playing a role in this tragedy, the chief surrendered to authorities on Wednesday, 17 June 2026.

The family filed two complaints. The first was lodged with the gendarmerie brigade of Penka-Michel, the district capital to which Baloum village belongs, where the events occurred. The second complaint was submitted to the state prosecutor, who was surprised not to have been informed of such serious facts earlier.