By Rita Ovrawah | Operations Manager
BACKGROUND
There are an estimated 3000 Southern Cameroonians detained by the Government of Cameroun in the context of the conflict in the Southern Cameroons. While they are not yet officially designated as Prisoners of Conscience (PoCs) by Amnesty International, their trials at the hands of one of the most unfair and opaque judicial systems in the world have largely gone unnoticed and unreported. Southern Cameroonians are often arrested without any warrant. They are usually held incommunicado for long periods of time while they undergo interrogation and torture. Many are maimed and some summarily executed and their bodies disposed of by the authorities. To Increase the odds of survival for those arrested, the first few days after arrest are extremely critical. A team of committed common law lawyers have been working diligently over the past 3 years to track down the locations of those arrested, trace their whereabouts and to raise an alarm to ensure that they are not permanently disappeared. For those that eventually get sent to one of the many prisons, their cases are usually sent before a military tribunal where they are usually subjected to questioning without the presence of counsel by an examining magistrate where trumped up terrorism charges are levied against them. Many spend years in prison, before a case is brought against them and some even die without ever being charged. For those that have been charged to court, the process is even worse, some have gone to court as many as 50 times without their cases being heard. This happens on a monthly basis, in a ritual of postponement without explanations or any opportunity to ask questions. When trials are finally conducted, they are sham events, held entirely in French language, in front of a panel of all French speaking magistrates, and by prosecutors and witnesses who only speak French and often without translators present. A team of common law lawyers have been put together to represent these unfortunate detainees. They travel to the various prisons, tribunals and courts to represent detainees, provide counsel, file briefs and appeals and follow up with the courts to ensure that their cases are heard and that, where possible, translators/interpreters are brought in, so that some semblance of due process is followed. They also travel to various detention facilities to track down missing detainees to ensure that they are not permanently disappeared. While they have agreed to provide their services on a pro bono basis, financial resources are required to support their travel, accommodation and feeding while they are on the road, often for days at a time, to provide this invaluable service. Hence the need for the fund raising campaign which was organized by VRF and is still very active till date.
HOW YOUR DONATIONS HAVE HELPED
In the course of the last 3 months, we raised over $10,000, out of which, CFA 595,000 equivalent to $1,082 has been used to carry out interventions for 15 detainees in 3 different prison facilities using 4 counsels. The 15 detainees include 12 males and 3 females. Interventions have be carried out on 6 different occasions for detainees in the following prison facilities:
Case 1:
A group of 4 men were arrested and charged with Insurrection, Secession and Terrorism without any proofs. They were tried in the military court and sentenced to death by firing squad. We were able to pay the required deposit for records of proceedings to validate their appeal.
Case 2
This is a delicate case of 2 female minors who were arrested and charged with abetting, secession and terrorism and were taken away to a totally different community only to be transferred to the prison in their community after one year and are currently incarcerated in prison. With the help of your contributions, we were able to ensure that they had their legal counsel so that they wouldn't be marginalized. The case is still ongoing
Case 3
A young pregnant lady was arrested because she was suspected to be ex-girlfriend of one of the Ambazonian fighters and has been locked up in prison since November 2020. She gave birth 2 weeks after her arrest and her child has never seen the outside walls of the prison. Your donations have been used to provide her with legal counsel.
Case 4
Seven (7) persons were arrested on allegations of terrorists’ acts in the North Western region of Cameroon. Counsel is being provided for them
Case 5
A young man was arrested on grounds that he is a former Ambazonian fighter and was charged with various trumped up charges from armed banditry to secession. He had already spent 13months in custody and our legal counsel was able to represent him and he was discharged and released from prison.
Our fund raising campaign is still very active and if you wish to continue supporting our cause, you can make your donations by clicking on the link below:
https://www.globalgiving.org/52303
Thank you.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
