A Cameroonian national, member of the Bakossi ethnic group and of Christian faith, requested international protection in Austria on 26 October 2023, claiming that he had been subject to acts of persecution by both separatists and government forces on multiple occasions due to his perceived political stance and professional profile. The applicant came from the Anglophone South-West region in Cameroon and worked as a history and Chinese language teacher. Since 2022, the applicant was also involved with an NGO supporting civil society development. Between 2019 and 2023, he was repeatedly abducted by separatist groups and released only after his family paid ransom. During these abductions, he was subjected to physical and psychological abuse and in 2020 his pregnant fiancée was also abducted and raped in front of him, which caused her to miscarry. Following his release, state authorities arbitrarily detained and mistreated him, accusing him of collaborating with the “Ambazonian” separatists. After leaving Cameroon to participate in a conference on behalf of the NGO the applicant had been involved with, a new arrest warrant was issued against him, and his house was burned down. He submitted extensive supporting documentation, including newspaper articles, photos, expert reports, arrest warrants, witness statements, and a hospital report relating to his fiancée. On 22 April 2025, the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) rejected the application regarding refugee status and subsidiary protection, issued a return decision, and found deportation to Cameroon permissible. The applicant appealed before the Federal Administrative Court.  

The Federal Administrative Court held that the applicant credibly demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution within the meaning of Section 3(1) of the Asylum Act and Article 1(A)(2) of the Geneva Refugee Convention. The court observed that although most of the evidence was submitted only in copy form and could not be authenticated, its quantity and diversity substantiated the applicant’s claim. The court held that the applicant’s treatment, which included kidnappings, arbitrary detention, death threats, torture, and the rape of his fiancée, violated the right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment under Article 3 of the ECHR, and amounted to persecution under Article 9 of the recast Qualification Directive and Section 2(1)(11) of the Asylum Act. According to the court, all this information was consistent with the main findings of the current country information sheet from the State Documentation on Cameroon (7 March 2025). The court acknowledged that for granting refugee status, imputed political convictions by agents of persecution were relevant and not only the actual political convictions of the applicant, and concluded that the applicant had demonstrated past individualized persecution both by the Cameroonian state and separatist groups (non-state groups). 

Furthermore, the Federal Administrative Court reasoned that the risk of persecution must be current and held that a well-founded fear of future persecution was substantiated by the arrest warrant issued against him after his departure. It also found that no internal flight alternative was available, since the Cameroonian state retained full territorial jurisdiction. The court noted that the applicant’s legal departure from the country, using his passport and a Schengen visa, does not preclude the risk of persecution upon return. 

The Federal Administrative Court upheld the appeal and granted the applicant refugee status.