Cameroon: does suspending Vision 4 over the Martinez Zogo trial protect justice or muzzle the press?

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Cameroon: does suspending Vision 4 over the Martinez Zogo trial protect justice or muzzle the press?

Can a television station be pulled off the air for how it covers a murder trial? That question is now at the center of a fierce debate in Cameroon after the National Communication Council (CNC) handed Vision 4 a one-month suspension, a decision that raises the stakes for press freedom and the ongoing Martinez Zogo case.

Cameroon: does suspending Vision 4 over the Martinez Zogo trial protect justice or muzzle the press?

Vision 4 off air for a month

The CNC announced on Tuesday that Vision 4 is barred from broadcasting any audiovisual programs for one month. The regulator accuses the channel’s managers of challenging its authority and failing to respond to a summons. Vision 4 had already been sanctioned in June, along with journalist Martial Thaddée Owona and his director Philippe Boni Menyene, after airing a report that the CNC said contained statements undermining the dignity of a lawyer representing civil parties. The regulator claims that earlier sanction was barely enforced and blames the channel for subsequently broadcasting new content targeting the same lawyer.

Amougou Belinga’s group also hit

In a parallel move, the CNC suspended for one month Jean-Claude Fouda Abega, publication director of the daily L’Anecdote, another outlet belonging to Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga’s group. The newspaper had published an article that the regulator described as containing unfounded, insulting and offensive remarks about the same lawyer.

The trial presses on

These sanctions land as the Martinez Zogo trial continues before the military court in Yaoundé. The radio host was abducted on January 17, 2023 near a gendarmerie post in the capital. His body, naked and mutilated, was found five days later. Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga is charged with complicity in kidnapping, torture and murder. He stands trial alongside former director of the General Directorate for External Research (DGRE) Léopold Maxime Eko Eko and Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Danwe, accused of leading the commando involved in the journalist’s abduction.

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  • Boureima Amadou

    Reporter

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