Bamenda journalist undergoing treatment after torture by soldiers

Deutsche Welle’s correspondent in Bamenda, Cameroon’s restive North West region, Jean Marie Ngong Song is currently receiving treatment for injuries he sustained after being beaten by government soldiers on Sunday.

Jean Marie says his “head hurts” after the soldiers got him “well beaten with their bare hands”.

Jean Marie had just rounded up an ex-students’ meeting. ” After seating for three hours in the meeting, we decided to lower our face masks to our chin to breathe for few seconds, the moment we stepped out, that is when I was attacked, ALONE,” Jean Marie narrates.

Jean Marie’s identification documents we’re also seized and he was forced to enter the military vehicle.

“I was beaten, my identity card collected. They asked me to go and enter their car, I asked them to tell me what crime I committed. They didn’t. I entered a taxi and left. They interviewed my friends and….they only sent my ID card later,” he narrated.

Journalists have suffered constant harassment and attacks from law enforcement officers whose role is to protect citizens.

Majority of the victims like Jean Marie have been reporting on the Anglophone Crisis.