'Devastated' lawyer wants inquiry into journalist's death

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.

On Friday the defence ministry said Samuel Wazizi had died of sepsis last August, days after his arrest for conspiring with separatist fighters.

Human rights activists and journalists believe the journalist was killed whilst in military detention.

Samuel Wazizi’s lawyer says he was denied access to his client from the moment he was taken from a police station into military custody last August.

Edward Lyonga Ewule says since then he has filed multiple habeas corpus cases in an effort to force the military to produce the journalist in a court.

He told the BBC on Saturday he was devastated to hear about his client’s death:


"We just heard the shocking news from the ministry of defence that Samuel Wazizi died in August last year. All this while that we were in court, the government did not even tell us that Samuel Wazizi was dead."

Mr Ewule wants an autopsy carried out and says Samuel Wazizi’s family is asking for his body to be returned so he can be given a proper burial.