LAW FIRM'S OFFICIAL STATEMEMT ON THE SINO MARL SARL'S SITUATION

Our Law firm has been representing and defending Sino Mart SARL and its implicated officers and employees before the competent authorities of the Republic of Cameroon in connection with ongoing judicial proceedings in Yaoundé.

The engagement, effective 3rd May 2026 under reference CJCI/PEN/2026/0501, covers the full architecture of criminal defence procedural oversight, the protection of fundamental rights, and the management of the considerable reputational and institutional dimensions this matter presents.

The instruction arises in a context of significant factual and legal complexity. The central imperative is to ensure rigorous application of the presumption of innocence as enshrined in Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the Cameroonian Code of Criminal Procedure — a principle that applies in full to all persons concerned, and which cannot be displaced by investigative measures, however serious their nature.

The firm has formally established that Mr. Yan Ming, General Manager of Sino Mart, was not present on Cameroonian territory at the time of the alleged events, and that his implication is grounded exclusively in his civil liability as a corporate officer, not in any personal participation in the acts under investigation. A further material clarification has been placed on record: the individual identified as the presumed perpetrator of the filmed acts of violence does not fall within the scope of the firm’s representation.

The matter demands a precise distinction between corporate officer liability and personal criminal responsibility concepts that are legally and doctrinally distinct under Cameroonian law and applicable international standards. Any determination of individual criminal responsibility requires the demonstration of personal conduct, intent, and causation, to be established through the regular course of proceedings before a competent tribunal, and not assumed in advance of any judicial ruling.

The firm is also monitoring with serious attention the circulation of publications based on unverified information, which have in certain instances attributed criminal responsibility prior to any ruling, thereby exposing their authors to liability under defamation and presumption of innocence rules and constituting a threat to the integrity of the right to a fair trial.

Barrister Banga-Assam Honorine Élisabeth is leading the strategic legal positioning of the defence, the qualification of individual liabilities, the curation of evidentiary materials, and the engagement with the Groupement of Territorial Gendarmerie of Mfoundi acting as the competent investigating authority.

The firm will pursue all available legal remedies on behalf of its clients and will issue further communications as the proceedings develop.

This instruction reflects the firm’s capacity to intervene at the highest levels of domestic criminal defence, to manage the intersection of corporate, individual, and institutional liability, and to uphold fundamental legal guarantees under conditions of significant public and media pressure.