Judging Civilians in Military Courts Highly Condemned.
The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has castigated the death sentence of four Cameroonians accused of being the brain behind the Kumba school massacred on the 24th October. According to Human Rights Watch, the trial procedure was a complete sham.
The 22nd October release of the Human Rights Africa Researcher, Illaria Allegrozzi revealed that the trial was impaired by injustice and human rights violations with a predetermined outcome. The death sentence was criticized as one that should not be given to any human being the HRW Africa Researcher stated “Regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime.”
Illaria Allegrozzi frowns at the fact that civilian matters are judged in the military courts “The military court should never have handled this case involving civilians, and it seems to have made little effort to ensure basic respect for human rights standards.” To him, the government would have handed the case to a civilian court if its intention was to bring those who committed the macabre crime against the kids to book “If the authorities intend to deliver justice for this heinous crime against children, they need to bring a credible case before civilian courts and hold those responsible to account according to international fair trial standards.”
The Human Right Watch has noted that trials in which the accused has been unable to question relevant witnesses or where there is lack of an effective right of appeal, among other violations, are not fair trials and make any imposition of the death sentence arbitrary and a violation. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime.
By Takang Bisong