(JED/IFEX) – The following is a 30 July 2001 JED press release: Kinshasa, 30 July 2001 On Monday 30 July 2001, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Michel Mukebayi Nkoso, publisher of the Kinshasa-based The Post, which publishes twice weekly, was arrested by Rapid Intervention Police (Police d’intervention rapide, PIR) officers on 30 June Boulevard in Kinshasa/Gombe, […]
(JED/IFEX) – The following is a 30 July 2001 JED press release:
Kinshasa, 30 July 2001
On Monday 30 July 2001, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Michel Mukebayi Nkoso, publisher of the Kinshasa-based The Post, which publishes twice weekly, was arrested by Rapid Intervention Police (Police d’intervention rapide, PIR) officers on 30 June Boulevard in Kinshasa/Gombe, where he had gone to cover a protest march by opposition activists. The journalist and about twenty opposition supporters were first taken to the police station in the former Regina Hotel, then to the Kin-Ouest Mobile Battalion’s station on Colonel Ebeya Avenue, before finally being left at the headquarters of the Kinshasa Provincial Police (Inspection provinciale de Kinshasa, IPK, formerly the Circo), where they were forced to lie on their backs and stare at the sun for half an hour.
The journalist was released at approximately 3:30 p.m.. He told Journaliste en danger (JED) that prior to his release, he had shown his press card, but this did not lead to his release. Rather, Mukebayi reported that he was beaten and undressed in public for a brief period at the Kin-Ouest Mobile Battalion’s police station. Police officers demanded that he produce a document indicating his authorisation to cover a banned march.
Jules Mwamba Katshinka, a journalist from the private station RAGA Tv, and his cameraman were also detained for “having covered a banned march.” They were released earlier following the intervention of an assistant police superintendent responsible for relations with the MONUC (United Nations Mission in Congo), who attended the roundup. On his evening news programme, Mwamba Katshinka made no mention of his detention that day. He simply said that “the city was calm and the opposition march did not take place.”
