The Observer007
Following the release of a video showing the artiste Longue Longue being tortured, Cameroonian Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo has ordered an urgent investigation. The findings are expected “in the coming hours,” according to the ministerial statement.
This decision comes amid a wave of national outrage after the artiste himself published images on YouTube showing him handcuffed and being tortured with a machete, allegedly in the premises of Military Security in Douala in 2019.
The release of these images has sent shockwaves through the country. Several artistes have publicly condemned these acts, such as Lady Ponce, who denounced the “barbarity” exercised by “certain men in uniform,” and Kareyce Fotso, who said she was devastated by the “screams” of her colleague.
The political class has also taken up the matter. Maurice Kamto, president of the MRC, called these acts “state barbarism,” while Cabral Libii (PCRN) described them as “the cruelty of a handful of ‘commanders’ of the Republic.”
The events are said to have occurred in the wake of the 2018 presidential election. According to Longue Longue’s statements to ÉquinoxeTélévision shortly after his release: “I was tortured with a machete, almost to death. I even urinated blood.”
The opening of this investigation by the Ministry of Defense marks the first institutional response to this case, which continues to provoke strong emotions in the Cameroonian public.
