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By Leopold Werner
The Secretariat of State for Defense, SED, is no name anybody would dream of affiliating with.
Stories of the worst inhumane tortures coming from the detention facility have been widespread but none has approximated the pictorial depictions of the barbarism undergone by detainees as the case of Ngwa Chemuanguh Divine.
Ngwa Divine was arbitrarily arrested on the night of October 28 breaking 29th, 2020 from his home in Obili-Yaounde together with his girlfriend.
Without offering a word, family members say the Gendarmes, who had come for his arrest, immediately launched their assault; kicks, punches and slaps. In the family residence where he was arrested, the gendarmes who were led by Lt. Njoya Artiniahou battered Ngwa Divine till he almost lost consciousness.
Members of the Chemuanguh family expressed total shock at the traumatic experience they all witnessed as they saw life being lynched out of their youngest son.
His relatives say Divine was hit hard on his genitals with a stone and around his head. According to actucameroun.com, the assaulters had formed a barricade with two to three other Gendarme officers who fired shots in the air to scare any person from intruding.
It only took the courage of his two elder siblings, Alphonse and Grace who intervened and pleaded with the Gendarmerie officers.
“If you have to kill him, please take him to your detention center and don’t do it here in front of his parents and the children,” they pleaded.
Grace also threatened to take the issue further and one of the aggressors simply mocked while laughing “If you like you take it to the UN”.
Ngwa Divine was eventually taken to SED together with his girlfriend but returned an hour later that same night with Divine who was almost knocked out.
The family was still in the sitting room when they came back home and headed straight for the little henhouse at the back of the house. From there they brought out a small firearm which they claim Divine had been using to rob in the neighborhood. With the last strength in him, Divine simple leaned towards his mother and told her inaudibly in their mother tongue that “All of it is staged. I know nothing about this”.
The following day, Divine’s sister went to the detention center to secure the release of Divine’s girlfriend. She secured it but could not get close to Divine whom she had also brought food and medicine for.
It is while at SED that she hears that her brother has been a wanted robber for a while. Grace revealed that she made several trips to SED to see her brother to no avail. It was on November 1, that she says she received a call from SED saying her brother wished to talk to her. Much to the delight of the family members.
Alphonse and some other family members went to SED but were rather taken to the Health center of the facility. It is from there they learnt that Divine had passed away.
His body was taken to CHU Yaoundé by Alphonse. It was at the morgue at CHU that the frightening scars on Divine’s body were discovered. Much of his back appeared to have been burnt and he also had several stiches around his face.
His mouth also appeared to have been super glued and then forced open. His right arm was swollen and there were equally injuries on his knees.
Throughout Divine’s detention and torture, the victim was never given access to his family neither was he given access to his lawyer.
He was never tried before a court and was never given the chance to defend himself. He was arbitrarily judged and given the most painful of deaths.
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