Several arrests have been made during the investigation into the murder of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo a fortnight ago. This is how Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, an influential businessman and reputedly close to several government ministers was questioned in the early hours of Monday 6 February.
In the early hours of Monday 6 February, three different groups of police officers went to three different homes in Yaounde. These are all key arrests planned in the ongoing investigation into the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo. Thus, the businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, one of his close collaborators, the journalist Bruno Bidjang, Director General of Belinga’s media group, without forgetting his head of security, retired Colonel Raymond Thomas Etoundi Nsoe were all arrested.
“It is not a rumour. Mr Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, president of the Anecdote Group was indeed arrested on Monday 6 February 2023 at dawn,” confirmed in a statement the media group Anecdote, created by the businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga. “He has not received any summons. But he is currently in the premises of the Secretary of State for Defence as part of an investigation,” the text continues.
Indeed, Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga is strongly suspected of being one of the masterminds of the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo. According to the confession of Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Danwe reported by RSF, after being abducted on 17 January, “Martinez Zogo was taken to a building under construction belonging to Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a powerful businessman involved, according to the reporter, in alleged embezzlement operations.
Moreover, “Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga is said to have hit the journalist in the basement of his building. He then “called Laurent Esso, the Minister of Justice to whom he is close, to ask him what to do with the radio presenter”, adds RSF. According to this testimony by Justin Danwe, it was the Minister of Justice who gave the order.
According to RSF’s information, “other important personalities, including several ministers close to Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, may have been made aware of and may even have been involved in the plan that led to Martinez Zogo’s assassination.
It should be noted that in this case, more than twenty members of the Directorate General of External Research (DGRE) have already been arrested in recent days in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.
Martinez Zogo was found on Sunday 22 January naked and visibly mutilated in the suburbs of Yaoundé, five days after his abduction. Medical sources reveal that the journalist was severely tortured, with his fingers cut off, multiple fractures in his arms and legs, and an iron bar thrust into his anus.
