Martinez Zogo’s wife writes heartbreaking letter to Biya, other world leaders, demanding protection for her family

The widow of murdered Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo has petitioned President Paul Biya, the UN, Pope Francis, and other renowned world leaders to ensure her husband’s killers are prosecuted and that her children and family are protected.

In a “cry of despair” published on the French-language website ‘La Voix du Koat’ on January 25, Diane Zogo challenged world leaders to pressure the government of Cameroon to seek justice for her slain husband.

Among the leaders and institutions she petitioned are President Paul Biya, Pope Francis, the Grand Imam of Cameroon, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, AU Commission President, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Joe Biden, Chinese PM Xi Jinping, Emmanuel Macron, Macky Sall, Rishi Sunak, Justin Trudeau, and Olaf Scholz, among others.

She said they should “demand from the Cameroonian Government the unfailing protection of children and family of Martinez Zogo, who today are afraid of the danger that continues to await them and of the uncertainties of tomorrow.”

She also asks them to pressure the Cameroonian authorities to arrest and prosecute her husband’s killers, adding that a national and international commission of inquiry is set up for an independent investigation.

“I will end this citizen interpellation by calling on all men and women of the world who love peace, justice, and freedom to authorize themselves to defend the memory of the father of my children as that of a good father who was cowardly and barbarously killed because he defended a just and noble cause, in the interest of each and everyone, that is to say, the protection of the general interest,” Mrs. Zogo said.

Her husband was abducted on Tuesday, January 17, killed, and his body was mutilated and dumped on the outskirts of Yaounde on January 22.

The managing director of Amplitude FM, a popular radio station in Yaounde, was murdered at a time he had been investigating pro-government billionaire Amougou Belinga.

By Tata Mbunwe