Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon: CHRDA tasked the Government to investigate the barbaric killing of Barrister and Senator Henry Kemende
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Publish on 12 January 2021, the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) has condemned the barbaric murder of Barrister Henry Kemende and called on the Government to carry out fair and impartial investigations into the killings. Below is the statement from the organisation as published.
According to CHRDA, On the night of January 11, 2022, a Senator of the Republic of Cameroon, representing the Mezam constituency in the Northwest Region, Barrister Henry Kemende Gamsey, also a member of the SDF political party and the Cameroon Bar Association, was shot and killed in Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest Region. He was also the head of the Posterity Law Office, Commercial Avenue, Bamenda,
As narrated by CHRDA, he was pulled out from his car and shot. According to a witness, a close collaborator of the Senator, his car was stopped around 07:30 pm at Mile 2 Nkwen, Bamenda, by unidentified gunmen, who forced him out of the car and shot him instantly.Barrister Kemende died on the way to the hospital.
Before being attacked, he held a meeting at his Posterity Law Office from 5pm to 6pm. He then left the office, driving in his private car to Nkwen Quarter to pick up one of his workers to take him home. It was after dropping off the worker that he was attacked and killed by gunmen who offered no word on why they shot him.
No one has claimed responsibility as of 12 January 2022, However, according to CHRDA, members of his law office, some of whom had been at the meeting shortly before his death, confirmed that he had been receiving a multitude of threats against his life from armed separatist fighters and government forces alike.
CHRDA strongly condemns the barbaric murder of Senator Kemende and calls on the Government of Cameroon to carry out a fair and impartial investigation into the killing. Senator Kemende is one of the highest-level officials to have been killed by gunshots in the context of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon.
We also support the calls from Barrister Kemende’s family and the Posterity Law Office for an impartial investigation into the death threats that he and members of his law office have faced. This must include death threats related to their defense of the rights of the Tudig Community in the Northwest Region and of Jan Cappelle, a Belgian national who was expelled from Cameroon.
You can read the original publication on CHRDA website by clicking HERE
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
