An influential businessman in Cameroon, Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, was charged on Saturday March 4 with “complicity in torture”, suspected of being involved in the murder of Martinez Zogo, a journalist kidnapped and then killed after being tortured on January 22, his lawyer, Charles Tchoungang, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Mr. Amougou Belinga, reputed to be close to several ministers and senior state officials, was arrested on February 6: he was presented “in the night” before the military court in the capital, Yaoundé, then placed in pre-trial detention, explained his lawyer. A source within the military tribunal confirmed this information to AFP on condition of anonymity.
When asked, the authorities did not say anything more about other charges, but several people suspected in this case were also presented to the military court on the evening of Friday March 3, according to an AFP journalist on the spot.
“Placed under warrant of committal” in a prison in Yaoundé
Mr. Belinga “was placed under a warrant of committal (…) at Kondengui main prison” after being “presented before an investigating judge at the military court”, a media group he owns said in a statement. .
Abducted on January 17 by unknown persons in the suburbs of the capital in front of a gendarmerie post, Arsène Salomon Mbani Zogo, known as “Martinez”, 50, was found dead five days later. “His body has obviously suffered significant abuse,” the government reported at the time.
Martinez Zogo denounced corruption on the microphone of his program “Bottling of alleged corruption cases”. He regularly questioned Mr. Amougou Belinga, owner of numerous business groups in the fields of banking, finance, insurance, real estate and the media, including the daily L’Anecdote, television Vision 4 and Telesud as well as Satellite FM radio, all reputed to be in favor of power.
