The mutilated physique of Martinez Zogo was discovered close to the capital 5 days after he was taken by unknown assailants.
The mutilated physique of a distinguished Cameroonian journalist has been discovered close to the capital, Yaounde, 5 days after he was kidnapped by unidentified assailants.
Martinez Zogo, director of personal radio station Amplitude FM, was kidnapped on January 17 as he tried to enter a police station to flee his attackers, media watchdog Reporters With out Borders (RSF) stated.
“His physique was present in [a place called] Ebogo 3 within the early hours of Sunday after he was tortured,” reported Amplitude FM.
Zogo, presenter of the well-known every day programme Embouteillage (Gridlock), had just lately been speaking on-air a couple of case of alleged embezzlement involving a media outlet with authorities connections, RSF stated.
On the air, the 51-year-old usually tackled circumstances of corruption, not hesitating to query essential personalities by title.
In accordance with RSF, police in a Yaounde suburb heard a loud noise exterior their police station and located Zogo’s badly broken automobile at roughly 8pm (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
“Police noticed a black car … driving off. They later got here to understand this was an abduction,” the organisation stated.
Zogo’s colleague, Charlie Amie Tchouemou, editor-in-chief of Amplitude FM, confirmed Zogo’s abduction and subsequent demise. The police and the federal government haven't commented but.
‘Sufferer of hatred and barbarism’
Media advocates described his disappearance and demise as an extra signal of the perils of reporting within the African nation.
“Cameroonian media has simply misplaced considered one of its members, a sufferer of hatred and barbarism,” the Cameroon Journalists’ Commerce Union stated in an announcement.
“The place is the liberty of the press, freedom of opinion and freedom of expression in Cameroon when working within the media now entails a mortal threat?”
The incident is the newest in a string of assaults towards journalists in Cameroon, which is dominated by President Paul Biya, who has a decades-long report of repressing opposition.
Cameroon is considered one of many international locations throughout the continent, from Burkina Faso to Ethiopia to Equatorial Guinea, the place journalists say media freedoms are underneath risk from authoritarian governments.
“Though Cameroon has one of many richest media landscapes in Africa, it is without doubt one of the continent’s most harmful international locations for journalists, who function in a hostile and precarious atmosphere,” RSF says in its Cameroon nation profile.
In July 2015, Radio France Internationale reporter Ahmed Abba was arrested and imprisoned for 2 years on “terrorism” fees that rights teams denounced as a sham.
Outspoken reporter Paul Chouta, who labored for the non-public information web site Cameroon Internet, was overwhelmed and stabbed by unknown attackers in 2019.
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