They had received a document which alleged corruption in a state-run oil company called Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH).
The document purportedly implicated Laurent Esso, secretary-general of the presidency, in paying three SNH managers an unusually high commission.
[1] The other two journalists were eventually freed from prison, but not until Robert Mintya had been attacked and considerable pressure had been put on the government by Reporters Without Borders.
His death and the events surrounding it caused Cameroon to drop 20 places in the 2010 press freedom index released by Reporters Without Borders.
[6] A year and a half after Ngota's death, Reporters Without Borders did an inspection of press freedoms in Cameroon before the country's 9 April elections.
The government announced that it would hold a conference on media but Reporters Without Borders noted that none of the laws, like the ones that led to Ngota's arrest and death had been changed.
According to the press freedom organisation, journalism was not recognised as a profession that needed special protections and violations in Cameroon were treated as if they were criminal offences with bureaucrats holding significant power over the legal process in such cases.