Keith Harmon Snow
Survivor's Rights International
& Genocide Watch

To: The Honorable Judge Ponser

Date: June 2, 2004

Re: Detention of Richard Sitcha


Dear Judge Ponser:

I am a human rights investigator and genocide investigator for Genocide Watch and Survivor's Rights International.

I am writing on behalf of Cameroonian national Richard Sitcha, being held in the Franklin County jail in Greenfield, MA. I understand that Richard is a human rights lawyer who was involved in bringing international legal attention to a case of some eight or nine disappeared persons in Cameroon, under the government of President Paul Biya, and that Richard fled Cameroon seeking political asylum here.

While I am not intimately familiar with his case, and I have never met him, I have read the Amnesty report about the case Richard worked on in Cameroon, and I believe he is a legitimate refugee in need of political asylum. I understand that Richard is a Hartford, CT resident who was reportedly detained under Homeland Security for no reason at all, it appears, and has never been charged with anything, and if he is sent back to Cameroon he will be in danger of politically motivated retaliation and potential loss of life.

In contradistinction, I am intimately familiar with the political situation in Cameroon. I have investigated the human rights climate in Cameroon, under the Paul Biya dictatorship, in person, and it is atrocious. I traveled to Cameroon in 1997, and collected testimony from human rights activists about killings and repression, and about special military camps where people were taken to be tortured. The Paul Biya dictatorship has retained absolute power for over two decades, and they have instituted a reign of terror where even experts from humanitarian organizations live in fear for their lives. A Francophone dictatorship, the human rights situation and political factors about Cameroon are rarely ever reported in the United States media.

However, Cameroon's human rights record is very well-documented by human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Africa Rights. At the same time the US government country reports on human rights have clearly and annually outlined Cameroon's consistent violations of international human rights statutes, violations that have proceeded, and continue to proceed, with complete impunity. I would be happy to provide specific details and cases, and extensive reports, if you need documentation of the human rights climate in Cameroon.

It is therefore understandable that people in Cameroon who know Richard Sitcha might very well lie to protect themselves, or deny that they know Richard Sitcha, or fabricate stories about Richard Sitcha which are not true. Again, this is a common practice in places where someone achieves high visibility, for some reason or other, and where the agents of the repressive government subsequently take punitive action against human rights activists, political dissidents or asylum seekers, their acquaintances, and their families.

Please make an effort to examine this case fairly and comprehensively. I believe that you will find that Richard Sitcha is being unjustly detained and unduly threatened with deportation, and that there is no basis in law for putting Mr. Sitcha in these circumstances. I am told that he is an upstanding member of his Hartford community and that he has been helpful to many students at Wesleyan University.

I believe that Mr. Sitcha deserves a fair and impartial hearing in the interests of the truth and justice this country is known for. Lastly, I would like express in the strongest of terms my hope that you will not allow Richard Sitka to be delivered into the hands of the repressive government from which he fled, where he worked in good faith, I believe, and under threat of personal injury, to help innocent victims of politically motivated violence (in Cameroon) and to insure that international legal standards, and the rule of law, would be respected.

Please let me know if I can be of any assistance. I would be happy to appear in your court to support the statements made herein, and deliver a comprehensive testimony about the human rights situation in Cameroon, with supporting documentation.

Thank you for your kind and equitable consideration of this matter.

Signed under the penalties of perjury,

Keith Harmon Snow
Genocide investigator & human rights researcher
Survivor's Rights International (www.survivorsrightsinternational.org)
& Genocide Watch (www.genocidewatch.org)

436 Long Plain Road
Leverett, MA 01054
(413) 549-5318