By Ndi Eugene Ndi
It was going to be a good Friday for detained Director General of External Research (DGRE) Leopold Maxime Eko Eko and business tycoon Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, prime suspects in the killing of journalist, Arsene Salomon Mbani Zogo, aka Martinez Zogo.
Freedom was so close yet so far for the prime suspects on this fateful Friday December 1, 2023.
The social media and public space were awash with news of the imminent release of the prime suspects. This follows the release of an order which cleared the prime suspects, Amougou Belinga and Leopold Maxime Eko Eko of any wrongdoing.
The document which carried the stamp and signature of the Examining Magistrate at the Yaounde Military Tribunal, Lieutenant Colonel Florent Aimé Sikati II Kamwo, stated there was insufficient evidence to justify their continued detention.
The order prompted scenes of joy and jubilation among family members and friends who flooded the entrance of the Kondengui Principal Prison late that Friday evening to welcome their loved ones back home.
But while defence lawyers were seeking the release of their clients following the instructions, there was another letter, marked confidential, which circulated on the social media still bearing the stamp and signature of the same military judge.
In the letter addressed to the Military State Prosecutor at the Military Court (the equivalence of State Counsel in a civilian court), Lt Colonel Kamwo said the order granting provisional liberty to the detainees was not authentic and that “a verdict will be made public at the right time”. The military state prosecutor then in another confidential note also leaked on the social media instructed the prison administration not to execute the order from the Examining Magistrate which he said was fake.
Continuation of scandals
The new twist in the aftermath of the brutal killing of the popular radio host is the continuation of what is now seen in the public’s eye as a state scandal.
Defence lawyers have expressed their consternation at Friday’s happenings. Eko Eko’s lawyer barrister Seri Simplice Zokou told Radio France International (RFI) that they had been formally notified of the earlier decision to grant provisional liberty to their client by the Examining Magistrate at the Military Tribunal in Yaounde.
He said the document was physically handed to the defence team in the presence of at least five people and they have dispatched copy. “We are very surprised,” barrister Zokou said adding that “it will be the first time in my career to witness such a situation”. He hoped that there were going to be new developments to the case in order to the save the tainted image of the justice system of the country.
Attempted prison break
On his part, the lead counsel for the family of the killed journalist, Barrister Calvin Job described Friday’s happenings as an incomprehensible imbroglio which he qualified as “attempted prison break” orchestrated by some individuals within the regime.
He told RFI that those behind the act did without the knowledge of the justice system in the country, calling on authorities to investigate properly and know those responsible for the acts.
To the lawyer, the people the late Martinez Zogo denounced in his radio talk show programs are still at work.
“These are the same people hiding in the shadows who, since then, have been putting pressure on the magistrates, on those involved in this [judicial] procedure, to steer it in one direction or the other,” RFI quoted the lawyer.
Accused of complicity in torture,
Eko Eko and Amougou Belinga were among “several people” arrested in February in connection with the journalist’s killing following probe ordered by President Paul Biya.
Following the presidential order, a mixed commission of inquiry made up of Gendarmerie and police officers was put in place to shed light on the journalist’s gruesome killing and their findings led to the arrest of the suspects.
In March, Amougou Belinga was charged with “complicity in torture” of the journalist while Eko Eko is suspected of “having provoked in any way whatsoever the torture of Martinez Zogo or given instructions to commit it”, in the words of the Examining Magistrate.
In the course of the investigation, the intelligence chief was questioned several times on the substance of the case. In particular, he was confronted by his sole accuser, Colonel Justin Danwe, head of operations at DGRE who is also in detention, as well as several agents working within the DGRE at the time of the events.
Among the incriminating elements that interested the investigators was the holding of a meeting during which Eko Eko, Justin Danwe and several DGRE technicians allegedly listened to an audio tape attributed to Martinez Zogo, in which he allegedly made defamatory remarks about the head of the intelligence services.
In the now fake release order by the Examining Magistrate, Col Kamwo noted that Eko Eko, Danwe and the witnesses cited had assured them “that there has never been held at the DGRE with journalist Martinez Zogo as the subject”.
Outrage over Zogo’s Killing
The lifeless body of 51-year-old Zogo, in an advanced state of decomposition, was discovered on January 22, 2023, five days after he had been kidnapped by unidentified assailants. By the time of his death, the star radio host was the director of Amplitude FM, a station with a huge following in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé.
The slain broadcaster was famous for his midmorning French talk show “Embouteillage” (traffic jam). On the air, he regularly tackled cases of corruption and alleged embezzlement of public funds, not hesitating to question important personalities by name. Amougou Belinga a reputed friend to several members of government was one of them. He had targeted Belinga on one of his shows prior to his abduction and subsequent brutal killing that has since caused outrage within and out of the country.
Shocked advocates have continued to call out violations of press freedom and freedom of speech in the country following the journalist’s gruesome murder.
In a statement then, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the journalist had been taken to a building belonging to the business tycoon prior to his gruesome murder. The statement said the body bore signs of probable torture before he was killed.
RSF said in a recent statement that “the outcome of the investigations [remained] very uncertain as the case’s ramifications reach up to the highest level of the state while the political environment [was] described by several local sources as verging on insurrection.”
First published in NewsWatch newspaper No. 165 of Monday December 4, 2023.
