International Human Rights Organization demands for prompt and impartial investigations into the murder of Martinez Zogo, a Cameroonian journalist
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According to Human Rights Watch, the Cameroonian Authorities should conduct an effective and transparent investigation into the killing of Martinez Zogo, a leading investigative journalist. As reiterated by Human Rights Watch, Zogo, who was director of the radio station Amplitude FM, regularly exposed corruption through his work and, in the days before he was killed, spoke on the air about threats he faced.
On on January 22, 2023, the body of the human rights investigative journalists was found in Soa, a suburb of the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé. As reported by Human Rights Watch, Media accounts said Zogo’s body showed signs consistent with severe torture, including “a broken foot, cut fingers.” The International Human Rights Organization quoted one article to have said that “he received electric shocks, he was made to eat his feces, the tongue did not have its normal position….” Human Rights Watch has not been able to obtain an autopsy report. The government released a statement on January 22 stating that Zogo had “endured significant bodily harm.”
As said by Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, “Martinez Zogo was a journalist who took great risks to expose the truth about corruption…..His heinous killing sends a chilling message to all other journalists in Cameroon. Cameroonian authorities should conduct a prompt and impartial investigation so that Zogo’s killers can be brought to justice.”
The International Human Rights Organization said Zogo was last seen by colleagues on the evening of January 17, after he finished his work in Yaoundé. Police at their post in Nkol-Nkondi neighborhood said they heard a loud noise outside later that night and found Zogo’s damaged car by the gate, as if someone had tried unsuccessfully to drive through it. No one was in the car when the police arrived, but after Zogo’s body was found, the police speculated that he may have been trying to enter the post to seek protection from his assailants. Police reportedly assumed he was kidnapped from his car by the eventual killers.
Human Rights Watch also reported as some sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists that neighbors said unidentified men had been seen outside Zogo’s home for several nights before his abduction. On January 18, Zogo’s wife discovered that the brakes on her car had been tampered with.
Zogo was the host of a popular daily radio program, Embouteillage (traffic jam). During his show, he regularly discussed corruption cases, at times accusing well-known people by name. In the weeks before he was killed, Zogo spoke on the radio of his work investigating embezzlement in public institutions and said he would name people involved. Human Rights Watch has seen a copy of a report Zogo allegedly submitted to judicial authorities before his death, in which he calls for an investigation into corruption by a high-profile person.
Since the journalist was murdered, Human Rights Watch said that the Communication Minister René Emmanuel Sadi has issued two media statements since Zogo’s murder, including one on January 22, stating that an “investigation was opened to find and bring to justice the perpetrators of this odious, unspeakable and inadmissible crime, which cannot be justified under any pretext” and insisting that Cameroon is a country that respects rule of law and where freedom of the press is guaranteed.
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Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
