Building a Global Conscience

Buea, July 30 2009

The High Court of Fako Division, Buea,  July 27 threw out an application filed by Global Conscience Initiative (GCI) for the immediate release of three persons who have been in detention in the Buea Central Prison since August 20, 2008, stating that their detention is not illegal. Justice Forbang Leslie sitting with Mrs. Emoh and Mrs. Fankam as Registrars delivered the decision from his chambers in the absence of the respondents.

On July 15, 2009, GCI filed an application for the immediate release of Mr. Akwo Kevin, Itoe Elvis, and Momfor Jong David pursuant to Sections 584 and 585 of the Criminal Procedure Code on Habeas Corpus.

GCI attached a three-page affidavit to the application stating how a vigilante group arrested the trio from their homes in Kumba at night on August 14, 2008, handed them over to the police in Kumba where they were detained for one week , and then brought to the Buea Central prison. GCI also stated in the affidavit that the trio was simply put in prison with a police custody order and were detained for about 11 months without being brought before a judicial authority for arraignment or for their arrest and detention to be justified. To GCI, these consist of a serious breach of provisions of the Criminal Procedures in Cameroon on which grounds GCI hinged the application.

Shortly after GCI started investigations into the detention of the trio, GCI found remand warrants inserted in the prison files of the trio that were signed by the Examining Magistrate of the Military Tribunal in Buea on July 8, 2009, which is the same day that the Superintendent of Prisons of the Buea Central Prison was notified that the trio had been mistakenly detained on police custody orders rather than remand warrants

It is on the strength of this remand order that Justice Leslie ruled that the trio were “duly detained” and therefore should apply for bail before “the competent Judge of the Military Tribunal in Buea”.

GCI Chief Executive Officer, Samba Churchill, has said that GCI will appeal the ruling and maintained that the conduct of the arrest and detention clearly violated the provisions of the CPC.  The detention of the trio between August 20, 2008 and July 8, 2009 without a remand warrant cannot be legalized by belatedly issuing a remand warrant dated July 8, 2009.  “We do not think that it is appropriate to detain a suspect for 11 months without charging him nor bringing him before a judicial authority” said the CEO. “We have no doubt in our mind that the military authorities produced the instruments of detention only when we opened investigations into the detention of the suspects.”

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Moved by the bestiality of the human kind in the Kumba Central Prisons, International intern Marlies Rotshuizen has made a generous donation of FCFA 200.000, to assist the Prisoner’s Rights Project at the Global Conscience Initiative in Kumba

Ms. Rotshuizen is an international law student from Utretch University in the Netherlands who has interned on the Prisoner’s Rights Project for the past three months. She joined other international interns at GCI and together they investigated and documented conditions in the Kumba prisons working closely with indigent untried prisoners. Marlies said she was particular moved by one incident the prisoners of Kumba’s prison recounted that took place on August 18, 2008, when the prison administration used excessive force to quell an alleged riot in the prisons. She said she saw the evidence, the scars of torture, cruel and inhuman treatment on prisoners, and this touched her heart. She is determined to contribute that the kind of abuses that happened in the Kumba prison in August of 2008 does not repeat itself and would like for the perpetrators of the gory abuses to be brought to justice.

Global Conscience Initiative’s CEO expressed profound gratitude for her initiative and donation and has said the money will serve as an initial contribution for a Prisoners’ Rights Fund to be created.  Samba Churchill further said, “GCI will manage the fund judiciously to assist the prisoners of Kumba.  Her donation is extremely symbolical as it comes at a time when GCI is faced with a situation in the Kumba Principal Prison that appalls the human conscience. The welding of chains on human beings is not something one could imagine would take place any where in the world in this modern age of human rights.”

Mr. Churchill expressed the hope that other well meaning Cameroonians will emulate Marlies’ example and make a contribution towards alleviating the situation of the Kumba prisons and that of prisoners, especially that of persons in the awaiting trial section. “We all have a duty and a responsibility to look after prisoners because they are part of our community. Human Rights are inherent and universal rights.  Thus, prisoners should not be deprived of these rights because they remain human beings”, the Chief Executive said.

The Chief Executive also said the donation will be put into a special fund for the prisons that he christens the GCI Marrot Prisons Fund. He said GCI will lobby the public to make donations into the fund for which a special bank account will be created and use the fund exclusively for her prison work.

Buea, July 15, 2009

Global Conscience Initiative (GCI) today filed before the High Court of Fako Division “holden” at Buea an application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus to issue for the immediate release of three persons who have been in detention at the Buea Regional Prisons since August 2008. The trio who were arrested from their homes in Matoh in Meme Division by a vigilante group and then transferred to the Kumba police station, were subsequently moved to the Buea Central prisons where they have since been held without due regards to Law N°2005 of 27 July 2005 bearing on the harmonized Criminal Procedure Code in Cameroon.

Deposing to the affidavit in support of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, GCI’s international interns; Francesco Frigerio from Italy and Tiffany Hu from Canada together with GCI’s Volunteer Chamango Blaise working on the GCI Prisoner’s Rights Defense Project, prayed the Court order the immediate release of Akwo Kevin (21), Itoe Elvis (20) and Momfor Jong David (42) should the State of Cameroon fail to show sufficient cause why the trio should continue in detention.

The application which is registered as Suit No HCF/0042/HB/09 is hinged on Sections 584 and 585 of the Cameroon Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) as read with other relevant provisions of the said CPC and seeks to establish judicial accountability for administrative and judicial malfeasants by elements of law and order in Cameroon.

GCI’s application which is supported by an initial 20 paragraph affidavit, highlights the irregularities and illegality associated with the continuous detention of the suspects and is instituted against; The Commissioner of Government of the Military Tribunal in Buea; and the Superintendent of the Buea Central Prisons as respondents.

According to Akwo Kevin, Itoe Elvis and Momfor Jong David, they were arrested from their homes in Matoh at night by a vigilante group, and were taken to the police station in Kumba where they were detained for one week without any statements recorded from them. They said they were later moved to the Buea prisons and have been in prison since then. They said they were not aware of the reasons for their detention and that no charges have been brought against them or any statements recorded from them nor have they been taken before any Examining Magistrate as required by law.

Global Conscience is worried that the conduct of the arrest and detention of the three suspects failed to observe the formalities and procedures established by law and that it further compounded the constitutional and human rights of the indigent prisoners.

“The law is very clear about what should be done in cases of alleged illegal arrest and detention and we are exploring how to use the law to free captives,” Said Samba Churchill, GCI’s boss. He lamented that the number of persons being illegally held in prisons in Kumba and Buea was disturbing and that regrettably the victims are either to poor to afford fees to pay lawyers or ignorant of their rights under section 584 and 585 of the Criminal Procedure Code. “We are trying to create and build that awareness”, said the human rights activist, while admitting that the task of changing the old mentality of the justice administration is enormous.

Global Conscience Initiative now operates a new office in suite 9 of the Fako Ship Plaza Buea. The office opened up to the public last June and has been receiving lots of visitors eager to make a contribution to our work. GCI runs two programmes in the new office:
The Prisoner’s Rights Defense Programme and
The Centres for Arbitration and Mediation.

GCI CEO is personally supervising work in the new office and has two volunteer office assistants: Elad Theodore and Chomanga Blaise working with him. He is also assisted by interns:

Jordan Pearlstein from USA (CAMs)
Francesco Frigerio from Italy (Prison Project)
Rix Ben fron the UK (CAMs) and
Tiffany Hu from Canada (Prisons)

GCI is already working on the Buea prisons with untried prisoners and has filed writs of habeas corpus on a number of cases of illegally detained prisoners. GCI enjoys a good working relationship with prison authorities and support from the legal department and the office of the Attorney General for the Southwest Region.

In the CAMs, Jordan Pearlstein from Tufts University in the US has made major inroads into five communities in and around Buea and will be conducting trainings for Community/village councilors in the weeks ahead. Rix Ben from the UK recently joined Jordan and they plan to come up with a longterm programme for the Centres for Arbitration and Mediation before the end of their summer internship.

Meanwhile, GCI has already done all the groundworks for the kick off of the Media Watch Project in Buea. Three international intern:
Giorgio Alan Franco (Italy)
Heather Mckinnon (Australia) and
Michele Sanna are presently working in Kumba and should start doing surveys in Buea in August.

Please come to our office now and at anytime and we will be glad to discuss our work with you.

Welcome

We are back on the blog again. Hurraaahhhhh!!!!!!   We promise our bloggers we wont bulge again. Keep the faith and blog at the Global Conscience regularly. We value your comments and inputs

Samba Churchill
Founder/CEO Global Conscience