Kumbo, North West Region

Suspected SCNC activists arrested, denied legal representation
By Ndjodzefe Nestor in Kumbo
Several people arrested from their homes without warrant in Kumbo have remained in the custody of the judicial police in Bamenda for more than a week, relatives said at the weekend.
    Lawyers were denied access to one of them. Family members said they are worried the health of their 70-year-old father arrested while attending church service several weeks ago might be failing.
    Police pulled Vincent Njumbam from morning mass in Tobin on 10 May 2015, ransacked his home and whisked him to Bamenda. He had not been charged with any crime at the weekend.
    Two lawyers contacted by his family were sent away from the police station on Friday, 22 May. No one has been allowed to see Njumbam, except a relative who brings him food daily.
    His family made an appeal Saturday for his release from custody, saying his basic rights were being violated and were fearful of his health.

I    t was not immediately clear if the arrests were related to separatist activism, which is commonplace in the Kumbo area. Several other people arrested around the same period are facing similar ordeals.
    "There have been several stories and allegations about the Southern Cameroons National Council and letters written by one of the members in the diaspora threatening Biya, which sparked these arrests," Jumbam's daughter Laura Viban said in a statement on Friday.
    "Concerned as we were about the health and general welfare of our dad, he wasn't released after the said interrogations. Going by popular opinion that they would be released after May 20th celebration, a day the Cameroon government always dreads demonstrations from the SCNC members, we were patient enough to see the aftermath.
    "Today the 22nd of May, two whole days after the celebration, seems like two centuries sitting and watching our dad behind bars for a crime neither we nor him know of.
    "When we as his children decided he has a right to a lawyer and to defend himself, two lawyers were denied access to him today. How can he exercise his human right if he is not heard? What evidence is there to show he is guilty of any allegation that must have been cooked up to cover the arrest?
"At our dad's age, he deserves to live in a healthy environment void of the filth associated with cells in Cameroon. Even a criminal has the right to be heard. All we want is the release of our dad."