(JED/IFEX) – On 22 June 2003, Don John Bepengo, a sports photojournalist with the Kinshasa-based weekly “The Post”, was violently assaulted at Martyrs Stadium in Kinshasa by the Libyan national football team’s goaltender, Luis Agostino. Bepengo was covering the elimination round match for the 24th African Nations Cup pitting the national team of the Democratic […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 22 June 2003, Don John Bepengo, a sports photojournalist with the Kinshasa-based weekly “The Post”, was violently assaulted at Martyrs Stadium in Kinshasa by the Libyan national football team’s goaltender, Luis Agostino.
Bepengo was covering the elimination round match for the 24th African Nations Cup pitting the national team of the Democratic Republic of Congo against Libya. The Libyan team’s goaltender had just received a red card for putting his hand on the match’s second referee. While leaving the pitch, Agostino violently punched Bepengo, who was duly accredited to cover the event. The journalist was injured above the left eye and fell on his left arm, which was bruised. His two cameras were also damaged.
The journalist is a member of the Congolese section of the Union of African Sports Photojournalists (Union des reporters photographes sportifs d’Afrique, URPSA) and was clearly wearing his badge authorising access to the neutral zone at Martyrs Stadium.
In a 23 June protest letter to Issa Hayatou, president of the African Football Confederation, JED called for a public condemnation of the attack, punishment that makes an example of the Libyan player and compensation for all damages suffered by the journalist. “The action of the Libyan team’s goaltender is not only a flagrant contradiction of the spirit of sport, but constitutes a denial of the right of journalists covering sports matches to work freely,” stated JED.
