In Cameroon, businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga will remain in detention pending the examination of his request for release on bail. On March 23, 2023, the magistrates returned the examination of this request. The media mogul has been charged since March 4 in connection with the investigation into the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo.
With our correspondent in Yaoundé, Polycarp Essomba
In Cameroon, businessman Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, charged for almost a month in the Martinez Zogo case, named after our colleague whose lifeless body was found on January 22, 2023 on a plot wave near Yaoundé, will remain in prison.
The media magnate had applied to the Central Court of Appeal for bail. On March 23, 2023, the magistrates of the said jurisdiction postponed the examination of this request until next month.
The hearing was expedited, just enough time for the magistrates of the Court of Appeal of the Center to notify Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga of the postponement of his case to April 13. And the boss of Vision 4 TV was immediately sent back to his cell, in the main prison of Yaoundé where he has been staying since March 4.
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A remand and deprivation of liberty that the wealthy businessman would live quite badly, according to indiscretions from the prison and some relatives. Because, as a reminder, Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga’s lawyers had already requested the military court a few days earlier with a similar request: provisional release for their client. Application ultimately denied.
The applicant will therefore still have to wait at least three weeks to be fixed on his request for release on bail.
On February 6, 2023, Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga was arrested at his home and placed in police custody at the State Secretariat for Defense, in connection with the case of the assassination of journalist Martinez Zogo. A month later, he was formally charged by the military magistrates for complicity in torture by aid and in the process sent to prison awaiting trial. It is from this prison that Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga tries, by all the legal recourses at his disposal, to extract himself to appear free.