**Updates IFEX alert of 24 February 2000** (JED/IFEX) – On Monday 21 January 2000 at about 6:00 a.m. (local time), Ntumba Lumembu Monji Mule, a journalist with the Kinshasa weekly “Umoja”, was detained at his Kinshasa/Ngiri-Ngiri residence by four Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) agents. The agents did not have a warrant for […]
**Updates IFEX alert of 24 February 2000**
(JED/IFEX) – On Monday 21 January 2000 at about 6:00 a.m. (local time), Ntumba Lumembu Monji Mule, a journalist with the Kinshasa weekly “Umoja”, was detained at his Kinshasa/Ngiri-Ngiri residence by four Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) agents. The agents did not have a warrant for his arrest.
Because the journalist refused to leave with the four PNC agents, two of them departed and returned moments later with a summons for “refusal to testify”. Ntumba was then taken to the PNC’s Kinshasa/Ngiri-Ngiri station, where he gave a statement regarding an article (which he had not penned) titled: “Tshisekedi escapes death”, published in the 15 February edition of “Umoja” (issue no. 1852). The article was written by another journalist, Katambwa Mike Masiya. Following the interrogation, Ntumba was released, having proven that he was not the article’s author. “Umoja”‘s editorial offices had earlier believed the journalist to be kidnapped, as they had had no word of Ntumba since his detention.
Ntumba had been subpoenaed by one Luhaka Victor, who had earlier been arrested by the PNC after publicly commenting on the aforementioned article.
