These are the events Beppie and Milko are dealing in Gambia in chronological order.

They took my step dad and hid him!

January 25th, 2007 at 9:19 pm

This is crazy, weird and a serious violation of human rights:

My stepdad’s name is Milko Berben, him and my mom Beppie Smits have been living in The Gambia since 1997

On Thursday the 18th of January at 2am Milko was picked up by the army commander of the Statehouse and to answer some questions he was brought to the NIA (National Intelligence Agency) He has yet to be accused of something, and he does not know what is going on.

Since 2004 Milko has worked for the Gambian president on his generators, which is arranged with contract and budgets ahead of time. The first contract year everything went great, and they worked with an agent, between Milko and the president. After that first year she no longer wanted to be the agent and suggested to the president to work directly with Milko. It was decided on that they do work with an agent after all. A contract was signed and budget was approved. With the generators there hasn’t been a problem.

There is a lot of work that has to happen to some generators, such as new parts, so since April of 2006 they have sent account statements to the Statehouse. They have not received any responses to them, and additionally late payments started to accumulate. Milko started seeing serious consequences from a necessary repair that he consequently couldn’t make, that HAD to be made on the generators that have been running for over 18000 hours (which is when they need new parts) so he met about it with two employees who work at the Statehouse. 2 days later he was picked up.

He was being treated fairly in the NIA, and Beppie has been able to visit him a few times. She has had to bring all the bookkeeping records connected this work, which she has, and which has been complete. Wednesday Milko met with the boss off the NIA who thought it was strange that they were making a profit on selling the generator parts (?!)

Milko told my mom that one of the questions they asked him was if he had any family members that worked for the UN, apperantly they are scared of the UN. All of this has to do with the president so the people that are asking questions on behalf of Milko and my mom are scared to do so. My mom has been asking questions for a week and she isn’t getting any answers because people aren’t telling her anything. Since yesterday Milko is no longer in the NIA building, but they also don’t know where he is right now. He is also not with the police.

My mom is lost and only has strings of possibly true and possibly untrue information coming her way occasional from unofficial sources, so she doesn’t know what to believe, think or do.

This is ludicrous

How convenient

January 26th, 2007 at 12:45 am

My mom has come across some unofficial information that the reason they “hid” Milko is because he is part of some large investigation (but who knows about what) and he is to have no contact with anyone outside of the investigation. Whether this is true or not we don’t know, but we do know that this seems so SO wrong, but conveniently it’s a national holiday in Gambia Thursday and Friday and so any office or official that my mom is trying to reach regarding what’s going on is CLOSED! How terribly convenient.

Breaking the rules and taking names.

January 27th, 2007 at 12:46 am

My mom has found this link and encourages everybody to fill complete and submit the form. We’re thinking the more attention this generates the harder people may work for it:

http://web.amnesty.org/contacts/contact_us/eng-gmb

After I completed it I looked around that site a bit to see if I could find any information regarding what’s happening with Milko, and I came across this little tidbit of info;

“The “disappeared” are people who have been taken into custody by agents of the state, yet whose whereabouts and fate are concealed, and whose custody is denied.” So I thought; well it sounds like Milko is at this point what amnesty considers a “disappeared”. So I clicked on to find out more about it, and lo and behold- look what I find in addition:

” “Disappearances” cause agony for the victims and their relatives. The victims are cut off from the world and placed outside the protection of the law; often they are tortured; many are never seen again. Their relatives are kept in ignorance, unable to find out whether the victims are alive or dead.

The United Nations has condemned “disappearances” as a grave violation of human rights and has said that their systematic practice is of the nature of a crime against humanity.”

Sounds like these people are breaking UN rules allover the place and now I suddenly realize why one of their first questions to Milko was one inquiring is he is close to anyone that works for the UN. Then I wonder if Gambia is even a UN state, so I head over to the UN site to find a list or UN states, and yup, Gambia is one of them. Sounds like they’ve got some explaining to do- if only we can get some UN officials to check in on the matter.

More detail

January 29th, 2007 at 6:16 pm

My mom described more in detail how this all went down when it did and how thing occured and we have a tiny bit of more info that is more of an conclusion again from what agents are researching, not anything concrete my mom’s been told, as they are STILL not telling her anything.

This seems to be specifically about the generators that are by wells around the village of the president. These are generators that are not even part of the contract between Milko and the president, but despite this he is occasionally asked to check on them and do some repairs on them, which he does.

The NIA continually keeps calling my mom to ask her questions about the bookkeeping regarding their work related to this and every time everything turns out to be perfectly correct (my mom does the book keeping for the business and she is somewhat of a book keeping perfectionist) and after that was done today they told her they were coming over to take pictures of the generators that are at Milko’s shop waiting for new parts, and to be approved to be repaired.

The boss of Kanilai farms had asked them to look at what was wrong with the generators by the water pumps in his field. Milko visited all the generators and took pictures of them.Then Milko received the request to get two of the generators transported with a truck and delivered to his shop, which they also took pictures of the moment they arrived. To find out what’s wrong with them the generators had to be brought to Milko’s shop so he could open them up to look at what kind of repairs they needed and what parts need replaced. Typically, when they find out what parts generators need they get prices from the manufacturer, and use this info to make a proposal to get approved so they can do the actual work. As most of the proposals they sent the past year, they got no response, and so the generators kept sitting around.

Milko began to worry because a large generator like that with no new parts will break, and if this happens the NIA would be on his doorstep. They asked a friend to explain their story to somebody close to the president, and so two men from the Statehouse came over whom they showed all the documents and proposals. They seemed to think it was all an absurd story. They told Milko they would immediately tell the president about it and give Milko an appointment to speak directly with the president about it. Two days after this Milko was picked up at 2 am to ‘answer some questions’. At first Milkos was excited that everything was finally getting investigated, and Beppie was able to visit him and they were able to just stand outside and talk. They both had no idea what was going on, but wanted to offer any help they could on the issue. When Milko met with the boss of the NIA on wednesday he told Milko he thought it was odd they were making a profit on parts, but that couldn’t have possibly been the reason that they were holding him without any reason for a week already at that point.

On Thursday Beppie came to visit him again with some clean clothes and food, but she was then told that Milko was no longer there, and until this moment she still does not know of his whereabouts.

My mom showed one of the men who came to take pictures today all of the pictures they took of the generators and their transport, along with details of the initial complaint about the broken generators.

Before the men left my mom asked what was going to happen now and they told her the generators will be picked up in Wednesday. When she asked what is going to happen with Milko they told her the same thing they had been telling her for 10 days; “He will be back soon”

Form letter and contacts for americans wanting to help to get some answers

January 30th, 2007 at 9:18 pm (Family, Gambia) · Edit

My dear friend Leeann has composed the following form letter and list of contacts americans can send and contact to make for an inquiring body as large as possible from this side of the ocean.

We would appreciate any information the consulate could obtain on the
status of Mr. Milko Berben.
We would appreciate the consulate communicating to the government of The
Gambia the number of American citizens that are concerned with Mr.
Berben’s well-being.
Many of Milko’s Berben’s friends and acquaintances across the US are
quite concerned by this case.

Here is who you can email:

Email the US Consulate in Gambia explaining the situation
ConsularBanjul@state.gov

Email your representatives.
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Email your senators:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/general/one_item_and_teasers/
contacting.htm

Email Amnesty International:
http://web.amnesty.org/contacts/contact_us/eng-gmb

Here is who you can call or fax:

Gambian Chief of mission:/ Ambassador Dodou Bammy JAGNE
chancery:/ Suite 905, 1156 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
telephone:/ [1] (202) 785-1379
FAX:/ [1] (202) 785-1430

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission:/ Ambassador Joseph D. STAFFORD, III
embassy:/ Kairaba Avenue, Fajara, Banjul
mailing address:/ P. M. B. No. 19, Banjul
telephone:/ [220] 439-2856, 437-6169, 437-6170
FAX:/ [220] 439-2475

If you have any contacts that work for the UN, The World Bank, or any
human rights organizations, please
send this email along to them.
If you hear anything or make any head way, please contact Kiona at
kiona@luckyaccessories.com.

Finally some good news!!

January 31st, 2007 at 2:46 pm

I received a beautiful, beautiful email from my brother and Milko’s brother Arjan. Milko came by the house just a few moments ago! He has not been mistreated or abused or anything like that. They also took him again and he is currently en route to the head quarters of the secret service. After that he almost certainly will be taken to the police station where he will most likely be charged with something. This is what Beppie assumes based on the ‘off the records’ information that the man accompanying Milko was able to give her. This man also said he would call Beppie as soon as he knows more. Beppie was able to give Milko food, clean clothes and food. Both Beppie and Milko still don’t know what the charge is, or will be, the people Milko has been speaking with during his stay at the hidden location, his guards, and other people also didn’t understand why he was being held.

Beppie is now contacting a lawyer so that he can be bailed out as soon as possible, which apparently can only be paid by a Gambian.

Beppie also said Milko looked good, and of course she was quite shaken by the whole meeting.

I have got to believe that all the inquiries they started to get from all directions possible are what caused this sudden re-appearing of Milko and what seems of a following chain of events that is more in line with what was supposed to have happened in the first place. I have no idea if we finally got people from amnesty and the UN to place some inquiries, but even if that didn’t happen (yet) I am sure the volumes of phone calls and emails we and many others placed to the presidents office and consulates have helped!

To everybody who’s gone out of their way to help we thank you from the bottom of out hearts. We’re not done yet, but this is a great step in the right direction!

More detail on the current changes.

January 31st, 2007 at 4:09 pm

So we are definitely thinking that all the efforts you have all helped with are responsible for the sudden changes. My mom just told me the the US embassy also called her this morning asking if Milko has a US passport, so she then explained his link to the US.

She also wrote in more detail what happened this morning:

She mentions she thinks the pressure we’ve all been putting on various sources is working and she is so happy to know the consul is involved. A dear Gambian friend of theirs has also said she would stand bail for Milko when it comes to that point, which is such a generous offer!

Milko has been in great spirits, he’s been joking with the NIA people how difficult it is to shave a week old beard, My mom is encouraged by his strenght (and so am I) She says these people are not getting the better of him, and when Beppie told him of all the attention and support he’s been getting from abroad brought him tears to his eyes and he is so grateful and thanks everybody for everything they’ve done. He also told Beppie that this does not make him want to leave the country. They have spent years and years building a great life for themselves and the people around them there, and they are happy there and he will not let them take that away.

They are all feeling a little better now that things are finally happening and they know where Milko is and that he is doing good

If Milko is indeed taken to the police he will most likely have to write a statement, then at 4pm things will close and people will go home so he will probably be brought back to the jail so then tomorrow will be the day to get everything in order all day and see what happens.

Beppie also sais that she can not say how much the support and help means to her and without all our actions things wouldn’t be where they are right now. They are incredibly grateful.

She has also been able to contact the lawyer, who has some informants in the police station so he will hopefully be able to find out more.

The Bogus Charges

February 1st, 2007 at 5:00 pm

So according to the consul Milko is getting charged with stealing those three generators that he has standing in his shop, the ones that he’d been requested to look at to repair, and also the ones they’ve sent account statements and repair requests for to the state house several times since they arrived. Too ridiculous for words, no? This is obviously a bogus charge, but I guess they figured they’d have to come up with something since they’ve held him for ten days, five of which “hidden.”
This morning my mom and the attorney are getting their opportunity to show all the documentation of everything related to those generators to the police, showing what a bogus charge this is, and they are hoping they are able to take him home by the end of the day. I am crossing my fingers and praying that all goes as planned, and anxiously awaiting the news.

Milko is home!!!

February 1st, 2007 at 9:07 pm

Got the great news this afternoon that Milko has been released on bail for now. They do have to come back tomorrow, but it sounds like even the police doesn’t know what to make of all of this. We will see what happens. I was able to instant message with him for a minute too before he was excited about going to have a dinner “with a knife and fork, yippy!”

Also as a heads up for those of you who have been staying updated on the progress by reading this, I may have to take these entries off the site for a while, as I’ve been up front about all things happening, which may not make certain people involved terribly happy. We’ll see later if that’s necessary, Milko seems to be of the opinion that we’ve been honest about the whole thing, and even if that hurts some people, that’s their issue and not ours. I do agree with this, but I don’t want to make things more difficult than they already are.

Milko update; the latest batch of lies

February 6th, 2007 at 2:23 am

Yesterday Milko and my mom received a phonecall from the police, telling them that the manager of Kanilai farm, who had given them the request and permission to get the generators picked up, was at the police station for confrontation, and they asked them if they could hurry up and get there. This is the day after they have been told by the boss of the investigation department that they couldn’t make a case of the ’stealing’ of the generators (because of the overwhelming proof against it).
When they arrived at the police station, the Kanilai farm manager was not there, and suddenly Milko’s case got passed to prosecution. When my mom, stunned by this, started asking questions to that same boss she was then told that the case was no longer about the generators, but it is now about the fact that they made a profit on the parts. My mom was mortified!
They then wait for a while at the prosecution desk, and she asks again what this is about, to which they then answer once again that it’s about the stealing of the generators. In short they are being lied to left and right, but they have not a clue why.
The boss of prosecution then comes to them after going through the file and tells them they have to go to Brikama which is about 40 kilometers from where they were, to the court there. When they get there it’s a shack of a courtroom that at that time was handling cases of juvenile pushing over the goal posts at the local soccer field, and a man who cut down 4 trees in order to feed his family. The Co of the Brikama police looks through the file and he also tells them that they can’t make a case from this for the judge because the charge of the stealing of the generators was immediately proved wrong with the proof in that same folders of the request to transport them etc.
The Co of the police then calls the police in Banjul and tells them very clearly that he was not able to bring an innocent person into a courtroom, so he would get him bail. The answer out of Banjul was “well then put him in jail until Tuesday.”
When their lawyer got there he and the Co dissapeared into the judge chambers, and returned with somber faces; the bail had been denied. Milko, the Co and the Lawyer left for the Brikama police station after, and there the Co does give Milko bail on his personal title, because he said he was a person of faith and he could not in good conscience put innocent Milko in jail until Tuesday (when the case will be judged) so fortunately he was able to go home again.
They are pleased to now see that there are also many people surrounding the case that are doing good things for them. That day they had brought along three Gambian men that worked for them as witnesses, who were there when the generators were picked up. My mom thinks this helped because it made the others see the unconditional trust they have for Milko and Beppie and that it made the others embarrassed that they were playing along with the game a few people at high powers in the governement were playing with an innocent man.
People are handling this case like a hot potato according to my mom, nobody wants to touch it so they are just trying to toss it on to the next person.

Milko update; Court date on Valentines day

February 13th, 2007 at 4:26 pm

Tomorrow, valentines day, February 14th is Milko’s court date. Beppie and Milko feel strongly about their case, but here are a few facts that make them nervous:

- The judge assigned to this case didn’t want anything to do with the case, but was forced by ‘higher authorities’ (and we all know who that is)

- Even their lawyer, the one who has been helpful up to this point now claims that “he is really actually too busy for their case, and he has no time for it”. so they are now scampering to find another lawyer that has the guts to accompany them in court tomorrow, as if anybody dares take that position.

It’s evident still, and more every day that people are terrified to have anything to do with this case, and we are hoping that this will not cloud their morality when it comes to judging time.

On a lighter note it’s good to know that business is picking back up for their company. The three weeks of events that brought the business to a screeching halt really hurt, and in addition Milko’s arrest also made it into the paper which doesn’t help client confidence, but luckily everybody they talk to has told them they already knew Milko is innocent.

Milko update; Court date moved

February 14th, 2007 at 3:08 am

Yesterday Beppie and Milko got a great phone call from a new lawyer, one of the leading ones in the country as a matter of fact; Mr Jobarteh, and he is going to take their case!
So they went to the court house today without a lawyer (Milko is meeting with the new lawyer later) and asked for an extension and a new court date given the circumstances. The new court date is the 28th of this month and Beppie and Milko are looking forward to two weeks of rest, at least as far as this madhouse is concerned. My mom did tell me that the judge gave them both a helpless look as he gave them the new date, the man just doesn’t know how to deal with this case, Beppie actually feels bad for the guy and the position he is in.

Milko update; The past month

Tuesday, March 13th

It’s been a while since the last Milko update, which is not because nothing has happened, but more because they just keep being shoved around and lied to and no real changes are happening. But in broad descriptions, here is what has been happening since the last update.

Two days before the second court date of February 28th their ‘great’ new lawyer suddenly decided this was a difficult case and he became too expensive. So yet again they had to show up in court on the 28th without a lawyer.

The morning before the court date, on the 27th- Milko was asked to come to the police station because, as he had been told ‘someone from the NIA was going to be there to add something to the case.’
After sitting around for an hour waiting for this phantom NIA person who never showed, they were suddenly told they had to go back to the Kanilai to look at something there. They had just been to Kanilai two weeks previous where Milko signed the statement that he did not take anything that wasn’t his. So they had no idea why he had to go back there, but they did realize that the NIA person story had yet again been another lie to keep them put where they wanted them. Before they left they chatted with one of the people who works in the department of serious crimes and he told them that the day before he had overheard people talking in his department, and that everyone there thought that Milko was being treated terribly unfairly, and that they all knew the whole case was about absolutely nothing, and that the whole case should just be closed.

Milko and three police men then left for Kanilai, and he called Beppie shortly after getting there to tell her that he had just been told that the case of the stolen generators was going to get closed in the court the next day, and that instead they were going to open a new case based on ‘stolen parts’ and the ‘cheating’ for making a profit on the parts, which wasn’t supposed to happen, or as they said at the NIA ‘this is not appropriate if you are working for the president’. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? (in that case I suppose not a single NIA employee makes any money. The must work for free then, right!)

As far as these ‘stolen parts’ are concerned, Beppie and Milko know for a fact that the parts they list as stolen were on those generators as the NIA picked them up. So if they are missing the ‘disappeared’ some time after that.

The court case on the 1 of March was strange again. Milko and Beppie didn’t meet any police officers there that they knew from before and they had to sit and wait and listen to all the cases that were called. After 1.5 hour the judge asked for a ‘rise’ and left the courtroom for 5 minutes and when he returned he asked Milko: “Are you interested in listening to all these cases”. Milko replied: “No, not really”. “So let’s move on with the case of the white man”, the judge told the policeman that was present. The policemen asked for a new date and the judge answered a bit annoyed: “And what are you going to tell me then next time?” The policeman said in a low voice: “If you give me a new date then you will here it then……” The eyes of the judge went up to the ceiling and he made a kind of apologetic gesture towards Milko.

Tomorrow is the new third court date, March 14th. We’ll see what happens then

There are some great things happening that I am not at liberty to discuss here on the site in order to keep progress going, but rest assured things are looking up!

Milko Update, prosecution is playing hooky

Tuesday, April 17th

From the newspaper:

Free at last!!!!!

Thursday, May 10th

Yesterday was a great day, as while Milko was in court for the 4432321th time, all the charges against him were dropped and he is once again a free man!!!!