(JED/IFEX) – On Wednesday 8 December 1999, at 7:00 a.m. (local time), an unidentified Congolese Information Services agent and two officers of the Congolese National Police (PNC) arrested Gaspard Baila Linoga and Jacques Bololo at a square commonly referred to as “Victory Square” in Kinshasa/Kalamu. The two individuals are responsible for subscriptions and sales, respectively, […]
(JED/IFEX) – On Wednesday 8 December 1999, at 7:00 a.m. (local time), an unidentified Congolese Information Services agent and two officers of the Congolese National Police (PNC) arrested Gaspard Baila Linoga and Jacques Bololo at a square commonly referred to as “Victory Square” in Kinshasa/Kalamu. The two individuals are responsible for subscriptions and sales, respectively, of the occasionally distributed satirical newspaper “Pot-Pourri”.
The two employees of the satirical Kinshasa newspaper were taken to an unknown destination and copies of edition No. 52, dated 8 December, were seized, along with that day’s earnings from sales of the paper.
For the moment, the justification for these arrests and the seizure of the newspapers remains unclear. However, JED notes that in its seized edition, “Pot-Pourri” published an article titled: “‘AIDS’ in the nation’s palace (seat of the country’s presidency)”. This article, written in a satirical style, denounces the president’s “impenitent embezzlement system”. To support its allegation, the newspaper evokes the confusion between the Ministry of Public Works and an assistant to the Head of State responsible for infrastructure projects in the granting of public contracts.
