True crime cases from Togo
This source-led archive begins with the killing of Colonel Bitala Madjoulba in Lomé on 4 May 2020. It follows the investigation, the 2023 military-court verdicts and the February 2026 appeal without treating convictions for complicity, conspiracy and obstruction as proof that the person who fired the fatal shot has been identified.
Symbolic country artwork inspired by Togo's flag and landscape. It does not depict a crime scene.
One partially adjudicated homicide case
The Togo hub currently contains one substantive case file. It is classified as unsolved / partially adjudicated. A military court convicted five defendants in 2023, and the Military Court of Appeal increased several sentences in 2026, but RFI reported at the start of the appeal that the direct killer remained unknown. The status records both parts of that evidence instead of allowing a court result to overstate what was established.
Togo is the sovereign West African state between Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso, with Lomé as its capital. This route is reserved for the Republic of Togo and is separate from every territory or similarly named location in the archive.
Cases with an identified direct perpetrator
Cases appear here only when the available record supports a resolved classification without converting suspicion, charge or a related conviction into certainty.
Cases with a material unresolved question
A partially adjudicated case can remain here when courts establish offences by named defendants but the direct killer or another central fact remains unidentified.
How this archive treats the record
Direct and secondary responsibility differ
Convictions for complicity, conspiracy or obstruction are not rewritten as a finding that a named person fired the shot.
Appeal results are current
The file incorporates the 27 February 2026 appellate judgment and separates it from the 2023 first-instance verdict.
Defence challenges stay attributed
Procedural and evidentiary objections are reported as the defence's position, not presented as findings that overturned the judgments.
Unknowns remain visible
No motive, command chain or later cassation outcome is inferred where the reviewed sources do not establish one.
Togo archive answers
What happened to Colonel Bitala Madjoulba?
Madjoulba, commander of Togo's First Rapid Intervention Battalion, was found fatally shot in his office at a military camp in Lomé at dawn on 4 May 2020.
Was anyone convicted?
Yes. Five defendants were convicted at first instance in 2023 of combinations of conspiracy against state security, complicity in assassination and obstruction of justice. The appeal court increased several sentences in February 2026.
Why is the case still in the unsolved section?
The courts adjudicated forms of secondary and related criminal responsibility, but reputable reporting said the person who fired the fatal shot remained unknown. The page therefore uses the bounded label “unsolved / partially adjudicated.”
What is the latest verified outcome?
The latest located judgment is the Military Court of Appeal decision of 27 February 2026. It increased the longest sentence to 30 years, raised other sentences and confirmed one acquittal. The reviewed sources did not establish a later cassation ruling.