Assassination of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo: searches at Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga

Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo was found dead on January 22, 2023. © REUTERS/Amindeh Blaise Atabong

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As part of the investigations ordered by President Paul Biya after the assassination of radio host Martinez Zogo, investigators carried out searches on Tuesday, February 7 at the home of businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga.

His name often came up in the denunciations made by Martinez Zogo in his daily, Bottling, very listened to in Yaoundé, when he spoke of corruption and embezzlement.

His name also appears in a deposition attributed to an intelligence member who allegedly admitted to having participated in the murder of Martinez Zogo.

Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, in private, repeats that he has nothing to do with the death of the journalist.

On Tuesday, his belongings were searched.

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With our correspondent in Yaoundé,

Searches at no charge, but meticulous, first at the residence of Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga.

The house was searched from top to bottom by the team deployed for this purpose, made up of police and gendarmes, in the presence of Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga himself and his lawyer.

At the Ekang building, recently built by the businessman and which houses the general management of his companies, the search took longer, more than three hours, a source told us, to comb through the nine floors of the building as well as the basement.

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It is precisely in the basement of this building, reported Reporters Without Borders, on the strength of a statement from one of the people arrested and whom RSF claims to have consulted, that Martinez Zogo was tortured and later murdered.

That is to say that this step was crucial in collecting any evidence.

Another search was carried out in the premises of Vision 4 television, in particular the office of general manager Bruno Bidjang.

At the end of the afternoon, an incident occurred in the home of one of the wives of Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga.

The team of investigators who went there met with his refusal.

It required the prior presentation of a mandate which they did not have.

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