By David Atangana
The Secretary of state in charge of the national gendarmerie, Galaxy Yves Landry Etoga, has ordered an investigation over the student of the University of Buea who died in military custody in Buea, South West region of Cameroon, The Horizon newspaper has reported.
This development comes more than two months after Ngule Linus Fonteh, a level 400 student, was declared dead on March 16, 2023 while in military custody for alleged terrorist activities.
He was arrested and allegedly tortured together with his roommate, Mboh Giress by SEMIL, a secret service agency of the Cameroonian army.
Reports however say the director of SEMIL, Bamkoui Emile, whose officers were involved in the torture and attempted cover-up of the death of the student, are likely to be implicated is trying to block the investigation process.
It should be recalled that on April 6, 2023, Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, hired by Ngule’s family, lodged a petition with the Secretariat of State for Defense demanding an investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Ngule Linus Fonteh in custody.
The Counsel requested, “a withdrawal of Ngule Linus Fonteh’s corps from government custody to carry out a private autopsy and to be granted access to Mboh Giress kept incommunicado since the two were abducted from their hostel by SEMIL elements”
Noting that SEMIL was not trusted to carry out any investigation on the matter, Barrister Amungwa called for “an independent investigation, access to the medical file and preliminary investigations that claimed Linus died of emotional attack after being questioned and exposed to graphic pictures of Ambazonia fighters “
Reacting to the latest development, Barrister Amungwa was less concerned about the investigations stating that, “We are more concerned about our complaint forwarded to the military tribunal”
This would not be the first time that civilians arrested by the military ended up dying in detention under questionable circumstances.
