Dead journalist's lawyer demands answers

The lawyer representing a Cameroonian journalist who died in military custody after being arrested for terrorism offences says he is heading to court to demand an independent investigation. The Defence Ministry this weekend confirmed that Samuel Wazizi had died of sepsis last August, days after his arrest. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Wazizi was accused of criticising the authorities and their handling of the crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, where clashes between soldiers and separatists calling for independence or more autonomy have left more than 3 200 dead and displaced thousands more. Edward Lyonga Ewule told the BBC that he had filed multiple habeas corpus cases in an effort to force the military to produce the journalist in a court. Ewule wants an autopsy carried out and says Wazizi’s family is asking for his body to be returned so he can be given a proper burial. Deutsche Welle reports that Anglophone human rights lawyer Felix Agbor Balla has been vocal about arbitrary detention and human rights violations in Cameroon. ‘If it is confirmed that it was as a result of torture that he died, an independent commission of inquiry has to be created and those responsible for these heinous crimes brought to justice,’ he said.

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