Yaoundé - A prominent Cameroonian businessman was charged on Saturday with complicity in the torture of a journalist who was murdered in a high-profile case that has rocked the country, his lawyer told AFP. Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, reputedly close to ministers and senior officials, was arrested on February 6 and brought before a military court in the capital Yaounde on Friday before being remanded, his lawyer said. A source at the court confirmed the report to AFP on condition of anonymity. The authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the charges Amougou Belinga faces. Radio journalist Martinez Zogo, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in January, was outspoken against graft and financial sleaze and had often faced threats over his work. Amougou Belinga, owner of L’Anecdote media group, “was arrested... at dawn” last month, the company said. The tycoon has holdings in banking, finance, insurance and property, as well as L’Anecdote, which owns a daily newspaper of that name and several pro-government TV and radio stations.
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