After the murder of the investigative journalist Martinez Zogo, the investigation opened by the Cameroonian authorities has led to the arrest of several people whose involvement is suspected, says a statement by the Secretary General of the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.
The Cameroonian authorities announced on Thursday 2 February, arrests in connection with the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo whose body was discovered on the morning of 22 January, five days after his abduction. Indeed, the government had ordered the setting up of a “joint gendarmerie-police investigation” to clarify the circumstances of this heinous crime. “The investigations carried out in this context have so far led to the arrest of several people whose involvement in this heinous crime is strongly suspected,” said a press release issued by the Presidency on Thursday, adding that “others are still being sought.
“The hearings underway and the judicial proceedings that will follow will make it possible to delimit the degree of involvement of each and every person and to establish the identity of all those involved in one way or another in the murder of Martinez Zogo,” the Presidency continued.
For the time being, the Presidency has not given the identity or the functions of the suspects. But some media like ”Jeune Afrique” states that Leopold Maxime Eko, head of the Directorate General of External Research (DGRE) and Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Danwe, Director of Operations at the DGRE were interviewed on 1 February at the Secretariat of State for the Gendarmerie (Sed) in Yaoundé as part of the investigation. The pan-African media also adds that it was Lieutenant Colonel Justin Danwe who allegedly masterminded the abduction, kidnapping, torture and murder of the journalist.
Director of the private radio Amplitude FM, Arsène Salomon Mbani Zogo alias Martinez Zogo was investigating before his death a scandal of embezzlement of hundreds of billions of CFA francs involving personalities close to the government.
Abducted on 17 January, he was found on Sunday 22 January naked and visibly mutilated in the suburbs of Yaoundé. According to medical sources, the autopsy that was carried out on his remains revealed that he had been seriously tortured by his killers. He was allegedly given an electric shock, his leg was broken, his hair was pulled out, fingers were cut off, his rectum was smashed and, worse, he was made to eat his excrement.
