Dakar, January 19, 2023 – In response to news 1 reports 2 that unidentified individuals kidnapped Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for a fast and thorough investigation into his whereabouts:
“The recent abduction of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo is deeply concerning, and authorities must do everything in their power to find him at once,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities must take this case very seriously given Zogo’s recent investigative reporting, and ensure that those responsible for his disappearance are brought to justice.”
At about 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17, unidentified men abducted Zogo, editor-in-chief of the privately owned radio broadcaster Amplitude FM, near his home in the capital city of Yaoundé, according to those reports and Aristide Ekambi, the secretary-general of the National Union of Cameroonian Journalists, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Zogo’s car was found ransacked and abandoned, according to those sources.
Neighbors had seen unidentified men outside Zogo’s home several nights before his abduction, and the brakes on the journalist’s wife’s vehicle were recently tampered with, according to those reports, which said she was in an accident two days before her husband’s disappearance.
Zogo hosts a popular daily show on Amplitude FM, where he recently commented on alleged embezzlement in public-sector procurement that benefitted a prominent businessman. He also sent a dossier to several institutions and media outlets about those allegations, according to those sources.
Zogo served a two-month prison sentence for criminal defamation in 2020, as CPJ documented 3 at the time.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists 4 and was authored by Erik Crouch.