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A week after his arrest and detention at the Limbe Gendarmerie in the South West region, Barrister Ayukotang Ndep Nkongho has narrated his visit as well as the circumstances that led to his detention.
Briefed, through a phone conversation, by the parents of late Bessem Landine on Monday 17th August, the lawyer says he traveled to Tiko in the South West region the next day where he met the girl’s parents.
A form 2 student at GHS Motobolobo, Bessem Blandine “was a normal, disciplined and respectful student with no record of any anti social behavior… her entire neighbourhood and family can testify to her goodness, morality and uprightness.”
Shot dead while harvesting snails, with other neighbours’ kids at about 8:30 pm, her parents and others rushed out
of their houses at the sound of the gunshots but were ordered to return indoors by soldiers.
“One of the children, Nemkum Elijah Junior ran into his family house with an arm bleeding profusely from a wound caused by a gun shot and, the father rushed him into Tiko General Hospital and later to the Limbe General Hospital for suitable treatment” the Barrister recounts.
The soldiers would later on hand one of the kids, 16 year old Ojong Caleb to his parents after the entire quarter went in search of him. “The same military then showed where the corpse of Bessem Blandine was abandoned.”
It was at this point that the parents contacted Barrister Ayukotang by telephone leading to his trip to Tiko. After meeting with them, he would proceed to the Accident Ward of the Limbe General Hospital where he met Nemkum Elijah Junior before his arrest.
“Less than five (5) minutes of my conversation with Nenkum Elijah Junior and his father, I was intercepted and arrested by Gendarmes of the Compagnie de la Gendarmerie Limbe at about 4:40 pm… I was taken to the said Gendarmerie where after being interrogated, the Commander ordered that I should be thrown into the cell despite the several and repeated requests of the Representative of the Bâtonnier, Bar Counsel Member, Senior Barrister ENOW BENJAMIN, Bar Counsel Member, Senior Barrister EBAH NTOKO JUSTICE and the many other lawyers present.”
He was released after spending a night in detention but was later summoned with his clients to the said Gendarmerie on Thursday the 20th of 2020.
“My clients and I presented ourselves at the Gendarmerie and my clients confirmed that I am their lawyer in the case of their 17 years old daughter who who was shot dead by the military of la République du Cameroun on Wednesday the 12th of August 2020 at EBANJA quarter in Tiko” he adds.
Barrister Ayukotang Ndep remains one of many lawyers defending jailed separatist leaders in Yaounde.
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