Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the bogus account of regional TV presenter Samuel Wazizi's death that the Cameroonian authorities have provided after finally admitting he died while in military custody ten months ago, and calls for an impartial and independent investigation into the circumstances leading to his death.
The statement signed by the defence ministry's press spokesman that was read out on the state radio and TV broadcaster CRTV yesterday fell far short of providing a credible explanation of how Wazizi came to die two weeks after his arrest in Buea, the capital of the English-speaking South-West Region, in August 2019.
According to this official version, Wazizi died in a military hospital in Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, on 17 August 2019, four days after being transferred there from Buea, and his death was the "result of a severe sepsis" not of "any act of torture."
He said neither Wazizi's lawyers nor any member of the family had any contact with him after soldiers removed him from Muea police station in Buea on 7 August 2019 and no member of the family was ever informed about his death.
A presenter on Buea-based Chillen Media Television (CMTV), Wazizi was arrested in Buea on 2 August 2019 and was held at the police station in Muea, a suburb of Buea, until 7 August, when soldiers came and took him to the headquarters of the 21st Motorized Infantry Battalion in Buea.
