Jean-Marie Benoît Balla

He was reported missing on the evening of 30 May 2017. When his car was located on a bridge over the Sanaga River on 31 May, it contained a note that said: "Do not look for me! I am in the water." There was no evidence of violence. On 2 June fishermen discovered his body seven kilometers from the bridge, and authorities estimated his death occurred on 31 May. An autopsy found signs of torture and that he had died days before his body was placed in the water only to be found after a few hours. Other murders of priests in Cameroon have gone unsolved, including that of the rector of the minor seminary of Bafia earlier in May.

On 3 August 2017, Joseph Akonga Essomba, the interim administrator of the diocese, claimed Balla's murderers were being protected by government officials. He claimed that Balla attacked gay priests, who later pretended to mourn him, and that it was his opposition to homosexuality that had prompted his murder.

Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Bafia on 3 May 2003 and he was consecrated a bishop on 12 July by Archbishop Jean Zoa of Yaoundé.

Catholics in Cameroon whose murders remained unsolved include Yves Plumey, Archbishop emeritus of Garoua (1991); the editor of the Catholic daily L'Effort camerounnais Joseph Mbassi (1988); Jesuit theologian Englebert Mveng, SJ (1995); and the French sisters Germaine Marie Husband and Marie Léone Bordy (1992).

Jean-Marie Benoît Balla (5 May 1959 – 31 May 2017) was a Cameroonian Catholic bishop who served as Archbishop of Yaoundé until his death in 2017.

Balla was born in Oweng, Cameroon, on 5 May 1959. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Yaoundé on 20 June 1987 and assigned to parish work. He then headed the minor seminary of Yaoundé and taught at the major seminary in Nkolbisson.