In Cameroon, the embarrassing Martinez Zogo affair

After the assassination of journalist Martinez Zogo, the investigation incriminates Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a powerful businessman accused by Zogo of corruption.

It was January 22. The body of the journalist, radio host, Martinez Zogo was found in Douala. A body that had been subjected to acts of torture before its execution. And when we know Zogo's fights against corruption in the country, we inevitably ask ourselves the question of who is responsible for this assassination.

For two weeks, the revelations are linked. And it is in particular the fact that the name of Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga is cited in this affair which challenges. Because the businessman was one of the favorite targets of the journalist, who accused him of having embezzled public money. Several people around him, and of course the businessman, were arrested on Monday.

Among other bosses of the Anecdote press group, but also present in the banking, finance, insurance and real estate sectors, Amougou Belinga is currently being heard as part of the investigation which is mobilizing the police and gendarmerie. Another personality arrested: Bruno Bidjang. Also a journalist, he is close to Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, from whom he took over the general management of the press group. Bidjang, in his own media, defended his boss for several days. But nothing says, for the moment, that he is personally implicated in the assassination of the journalist Zogo.

Because the case is actually broader: a former commander of Paul Biya's Presidential Guard, Colonel Etoundi Nsoe, has been apprehended. Jean-Pierre Amougou Bélinga is his son-in-law. The investigation will determine the involvement of these three men, members of the Directorate General for External Research (DGRE), but also the driver of the contractor, who has not given any sign of life for several days.

Martinez Zogo had disappeared five days before his lifeless body was discovered. A case that embarrasses the power in place, accused of being inclement with journalists. The presidency is trying to push for the truth to come out quickly.