A Communication released by the Attorney General in Yaoundé today July 4th, 2017 has revealed that the late Bishop Jean Balla affair died of drowning in sharp contrast to the Catholic Bishops communique which says Bishop Balla was murdered. The communique signed by the Attorney General of the Court of Appeal in the Center region was first time in the history of the Cameroons that such an office has released a document in the English language

The Press Release said the post-mortem examination was carried out on the remains of the Bishop of Bafia by two Cameroonian medical doctors on the 2nd and 22nd of June 2017 but did not make public the names and the findings of the local medical practitioners.

The Procureur General in his release said the autopsy was performed on the body of Bishop Balla by forensic medical doctors hired via Interpol by the following experts:Professor Michael Tsokos and Dr. Mark Mulder.

BaretaNews is told the hierarchy of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon was never consulted by the government over the decision to conduct an independent autopsy. The European autopsy noted the Center Region Attorney General did not reveal signs of a violence which casts doubt on an earlier popular revelation that Bishop Jean Balla was strangled. The press release went further to say the Bihops body has been handed over to the Catholic Church for burial. The so called Interpol autopsy experts did not examined bishop Balla’s clothing as it was not available.

The Press Release concluded that investigations will continue while declaring that the most probable cause of Bishop Balla death was as a result of drowning.

It should be noted that results of the first autopsy have not been made public. It is the view of BaretaNews that the Catholic Church should conduct a third independent autopsy before burial. The regime is surely hiding something.

Pictures that floaded social media on the day the bishop body was discovered is in contrast to a drowning person with no floated stomach etc. Bishop Balla was found in river Sanaga, Cameroun few days after a note was found in his car at the side of the river.

BaretaNews will follow this development.