Cameroon's 2009 Freedom to Create award winner passes away

Media reports state that ace Cameroonian musician and political critic Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger popularly known as Lapiro de Mbanga has passed away in the USA where he took up residence since 2012. The reports further state that the singer died yesterday March 16, 2014 from a brain tumour that had apparently appeared while he was imprisoned at the New Bell prison in Cameroon.

The artist had become a notable figure of the Cameroonian socio-political scene for his satire- ladden lyrics and criticism of the government. In September 2008, he was handed a three year prison term for allegedly inciting violence and looting during the February 2008 hunger strikes that rocked Cameroon. 

In 2009, he was nominated by Danish NGO FreeMuse for the Freedom to Create Award which he ultimately won the same year. He was released from prison on April 8, 2011 after fully serving his three year sentence. He received asylum in the USA and moved there with his family in September 2012 where he passed away yesterday.

At the time of his death, he is also reported to have been looking for a publisher for his rather ominously titled  book "Politico-Judicial Cabal or the Planned Death of a Freedom Fighter"(translation). His death has robbed the Cameroonian musical scenery of an artistic activist.