Controversy Over The Death Of Martinez Zogo

Controversy Over The Death Of Martinez Zogo

– Result of preliminary investigation says those who tortured Zogo, had no intention to kill him

– But many Cameroonians insist that Zogo was assassinated

– Judicial investigation opens, but may last 18 months

After one month of preliminary investigation into the gruesome assassination of Yaounde based journalist, Martinez Zogo, the Special Mixed Commission comprised of a number of senior Gendarmerie and Police Officers whose creation was ordered by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, finally wrapped up its investigation on Friday , March 3, 2023.
At the end of the investigation, the Mixed Commission established a list of suspects that were all in detention. The suspects included : (1) Senior Police Commissioner (Commissaire Divisionaire), Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, who is
the Director General of External Research commonly known as DGRE, and formerly known as CENER. (2) Lieutenant Colonel Justin Danwe, Director of Operations at General Directorate of External Research. (3) Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, the PDG of Anecdote Group. The media mogul also runs a number of other businessess. (4) Retired Colonel Raymond Thomas Etoundi Nsoe. The former Director of the Presidential Guard who is on retirement, was recruited as Chief of Amougou Belinga’s security staff. He is also said to be a father in – law to Amougou Belinga. (5) Bruno Bidjang, a youthful journalist and close collaborator of Amougou Belinga. Bruno Bidjang was appointed a few months ago to the post of General Manager of the Anecdote Media Group that is comprised of a number of media organs, among which is Vision 4 Tv in Yaounde.
Meanwhile on the the list of suspects in the Martinez Zogo Affair that by Friday, March 3 were being detained with the others at the Secretariat of Defence in charge of the National General commonly known as SED, were a number of commandos from the General Delegation of External Research.
Worthnoting that personnel of the General Delegation of External Research are drawn from different security forces in the country, especially the Gendarmerie and the Police. Also worthnoting that the General Delegation of External Research in Cameroon, is the country’s secret service. All countries in the world have the secret service unit, and the personnel do not wear uniforms. In the United States of America for example, the secret service is known as the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA.

Kidnapped, Assassination Of Martinez Zogo

Meanwhile before we go ahead with the outcome of the preliminary investigation, it is worth recalling that 51 years old Arsene Solomon Mbami Zogo who was popularly known as Martinez Zogo, was the Manager of Amplitude FM (radio station) at Elig – Esono in Yaounde. He was kidnapped in the fateful evening of Tuesday, January 17, 2023 as he was returning home from work. He was severely tortured and killed by his kidnappers, and his allegedly mutilated corpse dumped at a place near Carrefour Ndong at Ebogo 3 Village in Soa Sub – division in the outskirt of Caneroon’s capital, Yaounde. The corpse was discovered in the morning of Sunday, January 22, and the news of the macabre act sent shock waves across Cameroon, and beyond.
The strong demand across the nation and beyond, especially by men and women of the media, was, “Justice For Martinez Zogo”. By this, the people were demanding that all those who were involved, either directly or indirectly in the assassination of Martinez Zogo, should be fished out and severely sanctioned by the Law

‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’

Meanwhile the Mixed Commission that was created to investigate into the death of Martinez Zogo, had as its base, SED.
The mixed commission was working under the supervision of the State Counsel at the Yaounde Military Tribunal, who is known as ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’. On two occasions the Mxed Commission assumed that the investigation had been completed , and took the detained suspects to the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement”. But after meticulously going through the report, the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ demanded that the team of investigators should go back, and dig for complimentary information.

Why The Demand For Complimentary Information?

This meant that the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ after carefully going through the report of the investigators and interrogating the suspects, each time came to the conclusion that the evidences presented in the report were not solid or convincing enough to sustain the charges against the accused persons in court. For one thing, it is the State Counsel of the civilian court, or the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ when it concerns the military court, that together with some of his collaborators constitute the Prosecution Bench to defend charges leveled against accused persons in court.
In the Martinez Zogo Affair for example, the senior Gendarmerie and Police Officers that constituted the Mixed Commission, that carried out the investigation into the death of the Yaounde based journalist, Martinez Zogo, are not the ones that will appear at the Yaounde Military Tribunal to defend the charges that have been levelled against a number of suspects. Rather it is the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ and his collaborators that will do so.
That is why a State Counsel or ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ is always very careful to ensure that any charge made against an accused persons by investigators, is backed up by concrete evidences. When investigators repeatedly fail to come up with concrete evidence or evidences, the right thing that the State Counsel or ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ does is to liberate the accused person, than drag somebody to court for a charge that has no evidence to substantiate.
Moreso, the Martinez Zogo Affair is a case that will certainly be followed closely by the national and international media in particular, as well as by the national and international community in general. No State Counsel or ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ will want to be subjected to ridicule in court by brilliant defence lawyers, for being unable to provide concrete evidences to sustain a charge leveled on a defender or accused person.
Meanwhile after apparently getting the complimentary information following further investigation, the suspects were taken to the office of the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ by the Mixed Commission charged with the investigation into the death of Martinez Zogo, in the evening of Friday, March 3.

Why Senior State Counsel Was Designated

It should be noted that the military tribunal and not a civilian court is in charge of this matter, because there are military men involved in the case.
However in the evening of Friday, March 3 when the Mixed Commission took the suspects to the office of the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’, he jointly handled the matter with a senior State Counsel of a civilian court, who was designated for the matter.
A senior State Counsel had to come in because of the presence of Lt Colonel Justin Danwe in the affair.
The reason being that in the military court, a ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ who as earlier mentioned is the courts State Counsel, cannot interrogate a military officer who is higher than him in rank. The present ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ at the Yaounde Military Tribunal is a Captain in the military, thus could not interrogate the Director of Operations at DGRE, Lt Colonel Justin Danwe, who is a senior military officer to him.
Two things had to done. Either the President of the Republic who is also the Commanded In – Chief of the Armed, appointed a senior military officer higher in rank to a Lieutenant Colonel to be the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’, or a senior State Counsel in a civilian court is designated. Since President Biya did not appoint a new ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ higher in rank than a Lt Colonel, a senior State Counsel had to be designated. So that was what happened.

Retired Colonel Etoundi Nsoe , Bruno Bidjang, Freed

Meanwhile the State Counsel, the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’, some members of the Mixed Commission, and all the suspects in the Martinez Zogo Affair, went through a marathon session that ran from 5.30 pm on Friday, March 3 to 4.30 am on Saturday March 4. The senior State Counsel and the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ had to meticulously examine the report of the investigation carried out by the mixed commission, and then interrogate all the suspects.
At the end of the session, Rt Colonel Raymond Thomas Etoundi Nsoe (Amougou Belinga’s Chief of Security) and Bruno Bidjang (GM of Anecdote Media Group), were discharged and acquitted. From the report of the investigation, it was considered that the two were not in any way involved in the death of Martinez Zogo.
It should be noted that some senior management personnel of Amougou Belinga’s enterprises, as well as some of his family members that were at one point in the preliminary investigation arrested and detained at SED, were all released after a couple of days. So also was the wife of Bruno Bidjang who was arrested and detained, released.

Charges Slammed On Justin Danwe , Amougou Belinga, Others

Meanwhile Lt Colonel Justin Danwe, the Director of Operations at the General Directorate of External Research, was handed a three count charge by the State Counsel and the ‘Commissaire du Gouvernement’. He was charged for ‘Filature, Enlevement et Torture’, which means that he was indicted for having Shadowed or tailed (trailed) , kidnapped and tortured the late journalist , Martinez Zogo.
As for the PDG of Anecdote Media Group, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, he was slammed a one count charge. He was charged for ‘Complicite de torture par aide’, which means that he was indicted for complicity in the torture of Martinez Zogo by aid. Legal minds interpret this charge to mean that Amougou Belinga was not directly involved in the torture of Martinez Zogo, or that he did not physically take part in the torture of Martinez Zogo. Legal minds say aiding a crime means helping someone else to commit a crime. It is however not known in what way Amougou Belinga helped someone else to torture Martinez Zogo. Also, the identity of the person he aided is not yet known.
As for the charge or charges that were leveled against the Director General of External Research, Senior Police Commissioner Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, I don’t yet know. So also are the charges that were leveled against the commandos of the General Delegation of External Research, still to be known. Even the exact number of commandos indicted in the Martinez Zogo Affair has not been made public .

Kondengui Prison

Meanwhile after the charges were officially leveled against the indicted persons, they were on that Saturday morning (March 4) taken for detention at the Yaounde Central Prison commonly known as Kondengui. It is however not yet clear as to if all those indicted in the Martinez Zogo Affair are at the Kondengui Prison, or if some are in other detention facilities as some reports allege.

Defence Lawyers Reject Charges Against Clients

Already, Barrister Jacques Mbumy, the defence lawyer of Lt Colonel Justin Danwe, has rejected the qualifications of all the three charges leveled against his client. Speaking on Canal 2 International on Sunday, March 5, Barrister Mbumy said it is wrong for any reasonable person to accuse the Director of Operations at the General Delegation of External Research, of trailing, somebody, kidnapping somebody or torturing somebody. He argued that if DGRE has to trail or ‘arrest’ somebody, that job cannot be done by a Director.
What the defence lawyer is arguing here is that even if Martinez Zogo was shadowed or trailed, kidnapped and tortured by elements of DGRE, his client in his capacity as a Director could not have been physically present during the different operations, and so should not be charged for shadowing , kidnapping and torturing Martinez Zogo.
Observers see in this an attempt by the defence lawyer of Danwe to shift responsibility for whatever happened in the field, to the commandos. An allegation apparently being propagated by the Justin Danwe camp, has been circulating on Social media, insinuating that it is the commandos that physically tortured Martinez Zogo, and that they are to blamed for his death. That the commandos in question allegedly failed to respect the instructions that were given to them by hierarchy. Hummmm!
Meanwhile as for Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, the defence team headed by Barrister Charles Tchoungang (former Batonnier), continue to argue that their client was not involved, either directly or indirectly, in the Martinez Zogo Affair, and that they will prove it in court.

The Examining Magistrate

Meanwhile all those suspects in detention in the Martinez Zogo Affair at this stage, are not yet on a pre – trial detention, because the matter is not yet at the stage of being sent to court.
From the office of the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’, the file on the Martinez Zogo Affair has been
sent to an Examining Magistrate, to open the judicial phase of the investigation.
The Examining Magistrate has wide powers provided by the Law. After meticulously examining the file, the Examining Magistrate will carryout further investigation. He will interrogate all the suspects connected to the Martinez Zogo Affair, that are in detention, one after the other, and in the presence of their lawyers.
The Examining Magistrate has the power to summon any new person for interrogation in connection to the Martinez Zogo Affair, if he thinks necessary. The Examining Magistrate can as well order the arrest of a new suspect in the matter, if his investigation gives him concrete reasons to believe that the person was directly or indirectly involved in the death of Martinez Zogo.
The Examining Magistrate also has the power to re – qualify some or all of the charges that have been leveled against the different suspects in the Martinez Zogo Affair.
Again, the Examining Magistrate has the power to free any of the persons presently in detention in connection to the Martinez Zogo Affair. This will can happen if after meticulously examining the file sent to him by the State Counsel and the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement”, and after carrying out further investigation, the Examining comes to the conclusion that the person in reality has no case to answer. That is, that there is no concrete evidence to prove that the person was directly or indirectly involved in the kidnapping or torture of Martinez Zogo.

Nobody Charged For Assassination

Meanwhile the fact that the charges slammed in suspects in detention in the Martinez Zogo Affair ended at the level of torture, or better still that nobody has been indicted for the assassination of Martinez Zogo, has left many people, especially in the media, heart broken. Lawyers have interpreted the limitation of the charges leveled against the suspects to torture, to mean that after closely looking at the report of the Mixed Commission that carried out the criminal investigation into the death of Martinez, and that after also examining all the evidences that the Mixed Commission gathered, the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ and State Counsel came to the conclusion that Martinez Zogo was not assassinated. That even if he died as a result of torture, those who tortured him did not do so with the intention to kill him.
But many media men and women across the country disagree, and strongly hold that their colleague, Martinez Zogo, was assassinated. They are thus insisting that the preliminary investigation is not yet complete, as there is yet no answer as to who killed Martinez Zogo. For example, Didier Ndengue, the
publisher of an online paper, ‘La Plume De l’Aigle’, on Saturday, March 4 maintained the question that has been floating since the late journalist ‘s corpse was found on February 22, ‘Qui a tue le journalist, Martinez Zogo?’. (Who killed the Journalist, Martinez Zogo?). French language daily, ‘L’Info a Chaud’, in its lead story on Sunday, March 5 questioned , ‘Qui L’ A Donc Tue’? (Who Then Killed Him?). The question was that since non of the suspects in detention has been indicted for assassination, who then killed Martinez Zogo.
Besides men and women of the media, many members of the public including many militants and officials of opposition political parties, do share the view of journalists that Martinez Zogo was assassinated, and that the killer is being covered.

Insistence That Martinez Zogo Was Assassinated

This scene was also very visibly during the debate programme that major TV Stations in the country usually organised on Sundays. As expected, the main topics that the Tv channels had on Sunday, March 5, was the Martinez Zogo Affair.
In the programme Canal Presse over Canal 2 International, senior journalist , Souley Onohiolo, of Le Messager, and Parfait Mbvoum, the Vice President of the SDF for the Centre Region who was recently dismissed from the party, both insisted that it was inadmissible for anybody to say that Martinez Zogo was not assassinated. They questioned how somebody’s tongue could be cut off for example, if the intention was not to kill.
The two men insisted that Martinez Zogo was assassinated, and cried out that there was apparently a mafia to cover up the the person behind the assassination of the Journalist.

Some Lawyers Disagree

But two other members of the panel of Canal Presse, Barrister Jacques Mbumy who is defence lawyer for Lt Colonel Justin Danwe in the Martinez Zogo Affair, as well as another prominent lawyer, Simon Serge Kack Kack (UPC), on their part were in defence of the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ and senior State Counsel, that drafted the change. They also strongly defended the work that was done by the Mixed Commission that carried out the preliminary investigation.
The two legal minds argued that the State Counsel and the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’, could not qualify the crime that occured as an assassination, when there was no evidence to back up such a charge. Barrister Mbumy explained that to accuse those who tortured Martinez Zogo of assassination, one must have concrete proofs to show that they tortured him with the intention to kill him, or that his death was premeditated.
Barrister Kack Kack on his part urged that people should not minimise the charge of torture slammed against the suspects, for torture is a very serious crime in the Penal Code. He said somebody can be slammed a life jail sentence for torture.
Barrister Mbumy, the defence lawyer for Justine Danwe
Barrister, again came in seemingly with a message for Amougou Belinga’s supporters. He said that complicity in torture is also a very serious crime, and that somebody charge for complicity in torture by aid, can also be slammed the same jail sentence as the person that executed the torture.
Barrister Mbumy also tried to calm down several members of the public that are disappointed with the charges leveled against the suspects in detention in the Martinez Zogo Affair, as nobody has been charged for assassination. He reiterated that the Examining Magistrate that now has the file of the case, has the powers to requalify the charges if he has justification for that. The lawyer was seemingly trying to give the impression that the Examining Magistrate might end up charging some suspects for assassination, and so the public should calm down.

General Tendency

Meanwhile on the programme ‘Droits Des Reponse’ on Equinoxe Tv on Sunday, March 5, two of the three lawyers on the panel, did not share some of the views that two of their colleagues were coincidentally expressing at the same time at Canal 2 International.
Barrister Roland Dieuwou of MRC, expressed disappointment not only with the fact that non of the suspects in detention in the Martinez Zogo Affair has not been charged for assassination, but also the fact that so far nobody has been charged as principal suspect in the affair. He questioned whether the ‘Commissaire du Gouvenement’ and the senior State Counsel, as well as the Mixed Commission that carried out the investigation, want people to believe that it was the General Delegation of External Research on its own that took the decision to kidnap and kill Martinez Zogo.
On his part, Barristers Claude Assira who is also a law professor and member of the civil society, was disappointed with the way the charges against the suspects in detention were narrowed down. He said though an Examining Magistrate has the power to requalify and broaden charges, the general tendency is that Examining Magistrates rarely broaden charges, but instead narrow down charges. He said he did not thus forsee the Examining Magistrate in the Martinez Zogo Affair, broadening the charges.
Barrister Assira explained that it is for that reason, that it would have been good for the charges sent to Examining Magistrate by the ‘Commissaire du Gouvernement’ and senior State Counsel to have been broaden, so as to allow room for the Examining Magistrate to narrow them down.

Result Of Autopsy

Meanwhile in the programme, Equinoxe Soir’ over Equinoxe TV in the evening of Monday, March 6, Charles Njikam of MRC, corroborated the view that Martinez Zogo was assassinated. He questioned how somebody’s tongue and fingers could be cut off, and it is said that the people who committed the atrocious acts had no intention to kill him.
However Dr Rifoe of CPDM disagreed. He said all those saying that the corpse of Martinez Zogo was mutilated, that his tongue for example was cut, are basing their claim on allegations that some people wrote on the social media. He noted that some persons wrote unconfirmed things claiming that they were results of the autopsy that was conducted on the corpse of Martinez Zogo at the Yaounde Central Hospital. He said most of the things written or posted on the social media by whistle blowers and influencers on the Martinez Zogo Affair, were fake news that were meant to manipulate public opinion. He argued that from al indications, the reports that were posted on the social media claiming to be results of the postmortem results, were fake.
Dr Rifoe also argued that no member of the public has a picture of Martinez Zogo’s corpse showing that the tongue and fingers were cut off.
He said the Mixed Commission that carried out the criminal investigation into Martinez Zogo’s death, as well as the State Counsel and ‘Commissaire du Gouvernement’, definitely had authentic copies of the autopsy results, and probably also had pictures showing different parts of the copse of Late Martinez Zogo. He argued that if the ‘Commissaire de Gouvernement’ and the State Counsel had the authentic result of the autopsy, coupled with pictures and so on, that all showed that Martinez Zogo was not severely tortured, and also credible testimonies that the intention of those who tortured him was not to kill him, they would not give a false qualification that he was assassinated.

Where Is The Killer?

But whatever those that are arguing that Martinez Zogo was not assassinated are saying, many Cameroonians remain convinced that he was assassinated.

Principal Suspect Still Free?

On the issue that no principal suspect has so far been named in the Martinez Zogo Affair, a former senior member of MRC, Alex Nguepi, in an article posted on the social media, concluded that from the looks of things, ‘Le tuer est toujours libre et inconnu, la scene de crime reste un mystere’, (The killer is still free and unknown, and the scene of crime remains a mystery). To him since there is no principal suspect in the killing of Martinez Zogo among the detained suspects, it thus mean that the principal suspect in the crime has not yet been arrested. He also raised another issue that so far, nothing precise has been said about the scene or venue of the crime. That is the place where Martinez Zogo was tortured to death.

Amougou’l Belinga’s Supporters

Meanwhile as aforementioned, the different charges that were slammed on the suspects in the Martinez Zogo Affair in the early hours of Saturday, March 4, were received with mixed feelings by members of the public. Even though the media mogul, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, was sent to the Kondengui Prison, his supporters heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday, March 4. The relief was that not only was he not charged as the key suspect in the assassination of Martinez Zogo “as detractors had been praying”, but that he was also not charged as principal suspect in the torture of the journalists
Some of the supporters took to the social media to castigate and shame those they termed detractors as well as some clans and people with devilish hidden agendas, including some media organs. They said some people media organs in the last one month fabricated all sorts of tales, in a desperate bid to manipulate public opinion into wrongly believing that Amougou Belinga was a devil incarnate, and that he was behind the death of Martinez Zogo.
Some staff of Anecdote Media Group, even boosted that despite the detention of their boss, they had by tht March 4 already received their March salary.

18 Months For Examining Magistrate

Meanwhile Barrister Jacques Mbumy, the defence lawyer for the detained Director of Operations at DGRE Lt Colonel Justin Danwe, said over Canal 2 International on Sunday, March 5, that the Law gives an Examining Magistrate a maximum period of 18 months to work on a case file, since investigations have to be done.
That is a long time indeed. It means that by this time next year, the Martinez Zogo Affair might not as yet be in court.
Barrister Mbumy was definitely right to say that the tension that was experienced in the Martinez Zogo Affair in the last one month, will die down. He said as was seen during the preliminary investigation, all the suspects in the Martinez Zogo Affair were being taken to the ‘Commissaire du Gouvernement’ in a group, and which thus drew public attention. He said at the stage of the judicial investigation, the suspects will appear in front of the Examining Magistrate only one at a time, with and with his lawyer, and so the public will mostly not be in the know.
Meanwhile at the end of the judicial investigation, the file of the Martinez Zogo Affair will then be sent to court. But as has been, there is still several more months to go, before the case is sent to court