CI-NEWS

Amadou Vamoulke denounces ‘double standards’ in rejection of his medical evacuation request in emoti

2019-12-09

No: 460

Amadou Vamoulke denounces ‘double standards’ in rejection of his medical evacuation request in emotional letter!

Amadou Vamoulke, former GM of CRTV who has been under pre-trial detention at the Kondengui Prison for the last three years, has for the first time spoken about his prison situation and the judicial treatment he has been receiving before the Special Criminal Court.

The journalist whose application for release on the grounds of illness was rejected by the panel of judges in charge of the case on 28 November thinks President Paul Biya is better placed to vouch for his innocence after his collaborators and family have since made a case for his integrity. Following is the translated version of the leteer first published by Kalara Newspaper of 3 December 2019:

Local 131. It is the cell of the Kondengui Central Prison in Yaounde, which has become my home since July 29, 2016. When each of its ten occupants (for 20 square meters) slipped under his sheet, before finally getting to sleep, it occurs to me to relive those strong emotions that had gripped me in high school when the history teacher told of the slave trade. I imagined one of those chained up slaves sitting curled in a hold and wondering, "But what am I doing here? Where are we going? Which gods have I been able to offend and what price will I pay for my redemption? "

The slave then had no answer, any more than I do today, since I cannot be satisfied with the one given me by the justice of my country: "Embezzlement of public funds by artificial swelling of the Audiovisual Royalty For the sole benefit of the Crtv I was running then. It has been established that there was no diversion, swelling or loss of money. The Audiovisual Fee is a tax intended to finance public broadcasting. This money is managed solely by the Paymaster General of the Treasury. Who can think that, coming from the offices of Cameroon Radio Television (Crtv), I would have been able to get into his services to manipulate his books and thus "inflate" the figures that were there? Well, since the justice here has admitted against common sense, I can only suffer the more than three years of unlawful imprisonment in the light of my acquired status as a free accused. This lack of credible charges justifies the record of 24 referrals of my trial that cannot be held validly and is similar to a comedy ... dramatic.

Because, here, the mass is said as soon as you are indicted. You rightly hope that the truth so evident to be established will eventually burst forth. Seeing nothing come, you cling to the hope that violations of the law at different hearings will be denounced and eventually be recognized. It is to ignore the fact that justice is not based on the laws and that nothing will change there, nor the legal delays largely exceeded (detained for more than 1200 days whereas the Law sets a limit of nine months) that the illegal commissions of judicial experts who are not. You cannot dream of any recourse because the law does not provide for a procedure when it is violated by justice.

You understand then that you will not solve the squaring of the circle any more than your judges who sometimes receive as instruction from their "hierarchy" that they must "defend the position of the public prosecutor to the point of absurdity". We can continue to ponder over this "independent justice" and the "separation of powers" to prevent the Minister of Justice from meddling in court proceedings.

It smacks of cynicism to prevent me from going abroad to treat myself even though Cameroonian and foreign specialists have pointed out the extreme gravity of the severe neuropathy that I now suffer from? These same experts asked for my medical evacuation given the lack of necessary infrastructure in Cameroon and the risk of paralysis. It is probably still the "hierarchy" which decided on November 28 to deprive me not only of my freedom but also of all the health care which I urgently need. The Tribunal had to resolve to "obey" in contempt of the law and to reject my application for bail, which was yet a humanitarian and legal requirement. Therefore, what is the point of invoking, as my lawyers pointed out, the long list of "criminals" convicted and released on medical grounds? Did you say double standards?

You wonder then why this justice that crushes lives, which overwhelms high-ranking personalities sentenced to imprisonment for periods between 10 years and 50 years: Prime Minister, Secretaries General of the Presidency of the Republic, Ministers, Rectors of university, DG of public enterprises, prefects, mayors, public accountants.

For my part, I continue to wonder constantly about the bitterness of which I am the victim. My career cannot be the reason, because my collaborators, my environment, my family, all plead in my favor, highlighting my integrity and probity. But of what use is pleading? President Paul Biya could himself testify on my behalf since it was to him that I wrote as soon as I was appointed to refuse to inherit the salary of my predecessor, which I found indecent and so had to divide by four.

If not my career, then what ??? Seeing no credible reason, I can only deliver in bulk some, without hierarchical order: "he is haughty" (police, intelligence); he has nothing to do with the Crtv "(a minister); "He showed on television the daughter of the President of the Republic in light clothing" (video editing realized without my knowledge to cause the head of state to sack me); "He excluded the company of the daughter of the Head of State's Judicial Advisor from the CRTV" (which is true, for objective reasons); "He is not reliable" (understand "controllable"), etc.

It is true that I had made sure that professionalism was not sacrificed too much to other unavoidable considerations. I always made sure to place the cursor, including editorial, as close to balance as possible without taking the risk of going too far not to break everything. Despite the constraints (pressures), I think I managed to reconcile the public with its public radio-television which must be located "in the heart of the Nation", a slogan that I designed and forged for the Crtv.

It is also true that I had signed a memorandum directly addressed to the Government asking for nothing less than the liberalization of the audiovisual landscape as well as the decriminalization of press offenses.

It is also true that I had signed, as President of the Union of Journalists of Cameroon (UJC), a memorandum directly addressed to the Government asking for nothing less than the liberalization of the audiovisual landscape as well as the decriminalization of the crimes of press. These actions have earned me strong pressure and built for me a reputation of free electron, that is to say, in the national context, an undesirable personality!

Even today, because of my naivety or confidence in the future of my country, I cannot admit that all this can justify judicial harassment, my illegal imprisonment and the inhuman treatment of which I am the victim. I am indeed deprived of examinations and medical treatment adapted to my recently diagnosed severe neuropathy and for which I remain deprived of any care, at the risk of losing the use of my lower limbs.

I am well aware that exposing openly today the hostage-taking of the justice of my country is not likely to move the incriminated actors who believe themselves still unshakable. One of them, accustomed to truculent remarks, is on record to have said: "If you wait for me at the last judgment, know that I will not come there".

I would like to continue to hope that these words of a nineteenth-century thinker will one day appear to us as a truth from which we must not go too far: "the truth avenges itself, and whoever hates or despises it, sooner or later will be its prey". Yaoundé (Cameroon), Tuesday, December 3, 2019.

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Amadou Vamoulke denounces ‘double standards’ in rejection of his medical evacuation request in emoti