Longue Longue’s torture video aims to deter Cameroonians – Tando
The emerging shocking video showing the torture of Cameroonian artist Longuè Longuè by some government forces is believed to have been filmed, kept and released at a due time by the powers that be. Though the victim described the video as having been sent to him by God, it should be noted that this video was carefully kept only to be released at this point in time by the authorities that orchestrated his arrest and torture. They knew exactly that if the video is sent to Longuè Longuè (through an unknown number normally), he would share on social media.
The regime authorities behind the artist’s torture believe that the release of the gory video at this time would create fear and deter anyone who would challenge the outcome of next year’s presidential elections where their natural candidate, Paul Biya, is likely to run for yet another mandate.
Longue Longue was arrested in connection with declarations challenging the the results of the 2018 Presidential Elections. According to Longue Longue, the results were doctored to favor Biya of which Kamto was the winner. He also sang some songs making mockery of important state institutions that are headed by very old men.
The Biya’s regime of recent has been taking some actions that serve as warning notifications to Cameroonians especially her critics and the opposition .
Some of those actions include the arrest and detention of a young man who advocated for massive registration of Cameroonians in the electoral register in order to vote out an unproductive government.
The second notification was the issuance of a official warning by the SDO of Mfoundi, threatening to “depot” anyone who talks ill about President Biya.
The most recent is the banning media discussions about Biya’s health by interior minister.
Meanwhile, the same minister in a demonstration of panic put efforts to frustrate opposition coalition and also assisted in creating a rift in PCNR party which is successfully in fragment due to leadership tussle.
The National Communication Council on her part also intensified media censorship on the private media thereby putting to question the state of Free Press and Free Speech in Cameroon.
Coming back to Longuè Longuè’s case, the arrest and torture of a prominent figure of his caliber cannot be done without “haute commandement”. When Longuè Longue took to the media and cried to the world of his experience, many laughed and made mockery of him.
The state trains a special squad of soldiers just to carry out secret acts and operations. Most times these act are committed without trace leaving the population to speculate by themselves especially when it has to do with killing the victim.
Tortures are categorized as well as having code names depending on the crime and nature of how the victim be treated or handled.
Some of the tortures could be physical, psychological or death squad. Though in some cases, a victim who was not put on death roll may die due to his inability to withstand the torture.
Through the viral video one could now imagine what people go through in the hands of men in uniform before dying or just in detention. This is a common practice in the detention centres which unfortunately happens backstage. After what has been going on in the North West and South West, if the situation settles at a time when victims can freely speak without fear, stories worst or similar to that of Longuè Longuè would be common. Ofcourse, thousands of those heartbreaking stories may never be heard because the victims must have passed out into eternity.
People who may have never witnessed torture would never take the victims serious when they recount their ordeal.
The MINDEF’s call for investigation into the torture of the Cameroonian artist may just be a smokescreen as many of such investigations end up in the cupboards.
By George Tando
