Barrister Njong Henry Tita, counsel for the defense of Anglophones arrested within the framework of the ongoing socio-political crisis has authoritatively said contrary to government position, four inmates were killed by soldiers during the July 23, 2019 riots at the Buea Central Prison.
“The riot at the Buea Central Prison last July 23 led to the death of four detainees and over seventy five others were wounded with the use of live bullets by the military,” declared Barrister Njong Henry Tita, regional coordinator for the defense of persons arrested within the context of the Anglophone crisis in the South West Region of Cameroon. The Barrister-at-Law says prison gates were wide open that day for the military that day to enter and use force on the rioting detainees and inmates.
To the lawyer, amongst the four killed on the spot in prison that day were: Njie Gerald, Amougou Franck Joel and Eny Effiong. Barrister Njong said the body of Njie Gerald (a man of over sixty years) is lying at the Buea regional hospital mortuary while the corpses of three others have not been seen.
He attests that there are talks on how the military immediately took the corpses to an unknown destination as a means of wiping traces of the atrocity.
On the question of the whereabouts of seventy seven persons wounded, Barrister Njong says five are receiving medical attention in hospitals in Buea while seventy two others have been abandoned to themselves at the Buea Central Prison.
To the regional coordinator for the defense of people arrested in connection with the Anglophone crisis in the South West, bullet wounds of some detainees shot in the prison already smell as that no efficient medical attention is given to them.
He regrets that he has been denied access to see the injured detainees in prison on several occasions by the prison administrators.
Barrister Njong Henry Tita has lodged a complaint at the office of the attorney general of the South West Court of Appeal and is awaiting a reply.
It would be recalled that the government of Cameroon through the minister of communication Rene Emmanuel Sadi had earlier denied any case of death or the use of bullets by the military during the mutiny in Buea last month.
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