Zogo case in Cameroon: businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga formally charged

Mourners gather in the courtyard of Radio Amplitude FM, during a tribute ceremony for journalist Martinez Zogo, in the Elig Essono district, in Yaoundé, on January 23, 2023. © AFP - DANIEL BELOUMOU OLOMO

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

In Cameroon, since this morning, businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga has been formally charged in the Martinez Zogo case.

The media boss Vision 4 is in Yaoundé central prison and will be tried for "complicity in torture".

With him other defendants including Maxime Eko Eko the head of the Cameroonian counterintelligence service and his number two, Lieutenant Colonel Justin Danwé.

Advertisement

Read more

With our correspondent in Yaoundé,

At the end of the suspense therefore and at the end of an interminable night of waiting,

left the military court with a warrant of committal in the early hours of the morning for the main prison of Yaoundé.

All his collaborators arrested and in police custody with him for 26 days in the cells of the State Secretariat for Defense have been released, and the file therefore closed, with the notable exception of Bruno Bidjang, the journalist director general of its press group which will appear, him, free.

The media magnate who was known to be the sponsor of

will finally respond to the charge of “complicity and torture with assistance”.

No charge for murder

On the side of the General Directorate of External Research (DGRE), the boss Maxime Eko Eko was also placed in detention, as well as Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Danwé and all the members of the commando who allegedly participated in the assassination of Martinez Zogo .

The consequences of this sprawling affair will most likely be in 6 months with the opening of the trial.

As for the murder charge, after months of preliminary investigation, shovelful arrests and hearings, no one has been formally charged on this count.

This is a big question, because justice seems to be on the way to judging the accomplices, but not the sponsor(s) while the investigation is almost complete and the trial should open in six months.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Extend your reading on the same topics

• Cameroon

• Justice

• Company

• Crime