Martinez Zogo affair: Court establishes charges against prime suspects.

The charges are contained in a document attributed to the Tribunal, which circulated over the weekend. 

The lengthy document which announces the end of judicial investigations into the murder case is signed by Magistrate Nzie Pierrot Narcise.

According to the document, seventeen people, including popular businessman and media guru, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga and ex-Cameroon secret service chief, Maxime Leopold Eko Eko, will stand trial over the kidnapping and killing of Martinez Zogo.

Other suspects to stand trial in the murder case include: the former Chief of Operations at the Directorate General of External Research, DGRE, Colonel Justin Danwe and Vision 4 journalist, Bruno Bidjang.

They are amongst other things, being charged for complicity in the torture and eventual killing of the journalist.

The badly mutilated corpse of Arsene Salomon Mbani Zogo, popularly known as Martinez Zogo, it should be recalled, was found few days after his abduction on 17 January, 2023.

The 50-year-old radio journalist was former head of Yaounde-based radio station, Amplitude FM.

Following his demise last year, several prominent personalities were immediately arrested and detained in connection with the murder case.

Last Friday, the Yaounde Military Tribunal said it had closed judicial investigation on the murder case.

The tribunal then noted that "sufficient charges against the indicted" justified ending the judicial enquiry and setting a trial. 

It has however not been publicly stated when the trial will begin.

But suspects to stand the trial have been known. They include popular businessman and media investor, Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga.

The Vision 4 TV founder was arrested two weeks after Martinez Zogo’s murder. He has since been helping judicial officers in their investigations, which has led to the charges brought against him and others.

His lawyers however the charges are cooked up. "He has been ordered to stand trial on a fabricated charge- complicity in torture," Barrister Charles Tchoungang, lead counsel for Amougou Belinga said in a media outing.

The former head of Cameroon's Directorate General for External Research, DGRE, a secret service agency, Maxime Leopold Eko Eko, will also stand trial on charges of complicity in torture of the radio journalist.

Léopold Maxime Eko Eko is suspected of "having provoked in any way whatsoever the torture of Martinez Zogo or given instructions to commit it".

In the course of the investigation, the former intelligence chief was questioned several times on the substance of the case. 

For his part, the now detained operations Director at DGRE, Colonel Justin Danwe, will face charges of complicity in the murder.

Journalist Bruno Bidjang will face charges of complicity in murder and torture of Martinez Zogo.

Meanwhile, following the brutal killing of the radio journalist, several international groups had taken turns to call for justice for Zogo.

While reacting to the killing of Zogo in a statement issued in January 2023, Amnesty International had called on authorities to initiate and implement a prompt, effective, thorough and impartial investigation in order to shed light on the horrific event.

The group’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Samira Daoud, had insisted that “They should also publicly recall the importance of freedom of information and expression as guaranteed by national and international laws and commit to protecting human rights defenders, including those who expose alleged corruption”.