Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday decried the “lenient” sentencing of military officers involved in the 2020 Ngarbuh massacre in Cameroon, in which 21 civilians were killed.

On February 14, 2020, military troops and Fulani militiamen killed 21 civilians, “including 13 children and 1 pregnant woman.” Homes and properties were pillaged and burned, and village residents told HRW that they believed the attack was retaliation for “harboring separatist fighters.”

The military court in Yaoundé sentenced three soldiers involved in the killings last Thursday after a trial held in absentia. The court found the soldiers guilty of “participating in a joint operation with an allied ethnic militia,” and handed down sentences within a range of five to 10 years.

HRW said that prosecutors failed to pursue evidence as to “who planned and ordered the killings,” while the court “refused to admit key evidence, including death certificates to identify all of those killed,” and families of the victims were “allowed only minimal participation” in proceedings. Proceedings were reportedly delayed due to non-attendance of judges, and the trial lasted five years.

HRW’s senior Africa researcher Illaria Allegrozzi commented that “the failure of Cameroon’s prosecutors and judiciary to investigate those bearing command responsibility, combined with the denial of reparations, exacerbates the suffering of victims’ families.”

In 2020, Cameroonian authorities sought to discredit organizations that reported or condemned the massacre. At the time of the attack, the minister of territorial administration claimed that NGOs were receiving large sums of money to write the reports.

HRW in a post on X called the conviction a “partial step toward justice” and welcomed any prosecution of remaining perpetrators. It called on any further sentencing of remaining perpetrators to reflect the severity of the crimes committed.

There is a 10-day appeal period open to both defendants and civil parties. Allegrozzi called on the UN Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa to offer any needed legal assistance to families of the victims, to enable them to appeal and receive appropriate compensation.

The killing of civilians and children violates international law, including all four Geneva Conventions and statutes of the International Criminal Court.