My name is James Lowe, what follows is the true story. I do not write this to elicit any sympathy but merely to give you the facts. There has been too much misinformation spread in this past year that I feel compelled to write this short memoir. You can judge me how you see fit when the facts are laid bare in front of you.

I know many people think they know what happened, but I will tell you the truth. As with all stories, we must first start at the beginning.

Richard Lowe, my father became High Chancellor 25 years ago. There will be some reading this who do not remember life before. It was a bad time for our country. Economic and social upheaval, with daily riots. The world was out of control. My father came to power by dismantling the government through a series of no-confidence votes. I do not defend or praise what followed but I believed he helped heal and unite the country at that time.

I was thirty years old when it happened. The Liberation Crusade (LC) had started to gain traction in the north. They had an underground following which burst onto the streets. My father sent troops north and quickly put a stop to any insurrection. Unless you were there you might not know about this. It was not reported on state news, he made sure of that. I know this happened. I was at his side when he gave the order to kill the leaders of the riot. The order to kill those he thought were the heads of the LC. I was at his side when we watched them die. When we watched them executed.

It was the following week I was taken. How careless I was, I thought I was untouchable in the capital. Everyone knew who I was. It was known my father's vengeance was swift and harsh, nobody would ever dare to hurt his only son.

They took me to one of the old factories outside the city, long since abandoned and forgotten. The first thing I remember when I woke is the smell. That stale air of decay. It is hard to put into words how it crept up my nose. I do not think it is a memory I am likely to ever forget.

On some nights I would be able to watch the state news broadcast. I must admit the first time they allowed me to watch I expected my kidnapping to be the main story. It was not mentioned. I realised my father would never let himself appear weak. He would not allow it. He was paranoid his closest advisors were out to kill him and take his power for themselves.

"Look strong, stay strong." He would often say.

On another night when I was allowed to watch the news, I started to talk to my guard, George. I'm not sure he ever slept as he always seemed to be outside the door of the tiny room they kept me in. He told me his wife had been killed when she dared to print a small publication critical of the government and in particular my father. He told me about when they first met, their first date. He talked to me about her for hours. We talked not as prisoner and captive but as humans.

There are few times in my life I have been speechless but I can readily admit when my uncle Edward walked through my cell door I was. He smiled at my shock, he never did say but I think he expected me to be angry when I saw him. Edward was the true leader of the LC. The conductor in the background.

I am a well-educated person, and I am not naive. I know my father was ruthless, I know he was uncompromising but I believed he was doing right for the country. I say this so you can understand how I felt when my uncle spoke to me. What I tell you here was not in the public record, it was thought deleted and destroyed many years ago. The elections my father won when he came to power were rigged. If the dead tell no tales, then I ask you how is it the dead vote. You may not believe what I tell you, I didn't at first. Edward showed me the proof he had kept for all of these years.

I had always suspected that the elections were not fought or won legally. As I said I am not naive enough to believe all of the state media and my father's tales. I had known in my heart, though, that it was for the good of the country. I have seen the footage from before that election. The country was next to ruin. He rebuilt this country back to the greatness it once had.

But what if none of the upheaval was real? What if it was created by the party and some well-placed agents? That is what Edward posed to me. I readily dismissed his claims, but once again he showed me proof. I have seen and created enough fake documents to know when I see real ones.

If you look at old pictures of my father when he first came to power you will not see Edward, but he is there. Always standing at the right-hand side of him, but Edward was taken out of those pictures. He stopped following the party line. He was ostracised.

It was then Edward showed me the reason he turned his back on the party. He showed me a picture of his sister. My mother. I knew what he was going to say before he said it. To his credit, he didn't tell me the details. All he would tell me is that my father had killed her. The only person he did kill, amongst the thousands he ordered dead. She had started to question. She had started to doubt him. She was going to leave. That was not an option, so she had to die.

The original plan was to use my kidnapping to lure him out, to kill him. This plan had not worked how Edward had hoped. My father had grown too paranoid to leave his office. Even to save me.

Regardless of the rumours, it was I who changed the plan. I demanded they release me. Edward finally agreed after days arguing.

As much as the smell of stale air from the old factory will forever be with me, so too will the look on my fathers face when he realised. He did not beg or fear. Nor did he show any remorse.

"I have done what I know to be right." Those were the last words High Chancellor Richard Lowe spoke.

I cannot say if the country is in a better position now, nor was that ever my intent. The party continues but without my father as the head, I know the rest of the snake will soon die. Where the country will go from there is for you the people to decide.

I did not do this for Edward and the LC, or for George and his wife. Nor did I do it for the others my father had ordered killed. I avenged my mother. I did no more or no less. For those who judge me, hold me up as a hero or vilify me, you now have the facts. Whatever you decide, I know what I did was right.