The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the release of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo. PHOTO: via CPJ Twitter account The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the release of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo. PHOTO: via CPJ Twitter account
CAPE TOWN - Cameroon journalist is due in court on Thursday next week after he was arrested and charged with criminal defamation last month following a complaint filed by the ex-wife of a government official, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
On January 17, police in the capital Yaoundé arrested Martinez Zogo at the offices of Radio Amplitude FM, a privately owned broadcaster where he works as editor-in-chief, after Sylvie Biye Essono alleging he had spread false information about her in a January 8 broadcast.
Zogo was transferred to Yaoundé’s Kondengui prison, where he remains in detention, his lawyer Joseph Kenmoe told the CPJ.
The press freedom watchdog demanded that Cameroon authorities immediately release Zogo, drop all charges against him and reform the West African country’s penal code to decriminalize defamation.
"Cameroon’s maintenance of defamation as a criminal offense signals its disrespect for basic press freedom and unwillingness to align its laws with international standards on freedom of expression,” CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator Angela Quintal said.
In Cameroon, defamation carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a fine of 2 million Central African francs ($3,447).
According to Zogo's lawyer Kenmoe, in her complaint Essono alleged that the journalist insulted her and accused her of using her ex-husband’s name to apply for government contracts.
The lawyer said Essono's original complaint accused Zogo of cybercrime, blackmail, and defamation, but authorities only filed the defamation charges against him.