The president of the self declared federal state of Ambazonia, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.The verdict was handed down on August 20 at the military court of Yaoundé in Cameroon, according to reports.

He was sentenced together with nine other separatist leaders. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is accused of "secession and hostility against the fatherland", a charge that carries a death penalty. In addition to the life sentence, he is also ordered to pay 250 billion francs CFA as compensation to the state.

Sisiku is considered the leader of Southern Cameroon movement who are advocating for the separation of the English speaking Southern Cameroon from the French speaking Eastern region. Peaceful protests advocating for more rights in Southern Cameroon in 2007 was violently repressed by the government and the situation has degenerated to an armed conflict that has seen thousands displaced both internally and in neighboring Nigeria. International organizations also put the number of people killed at three thousand.

A Nigerian court  had condemned as "illegal and unconstitutional" the arrest and deportation of separatists leaders and 49 other who had applied for asylum in Nigeria.