(JED/IFEX) – Colonel Bokeone of the Kasongo garrison in Maniema province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was dismissed from duty on 20 June 2004, following a brutal attack on a radio director that left him in the hospital with severe injuries. Modeste Shabani, director of the Kasongo-based Sauti ya Mkaaji (The Voice of the […]
(JED/IFEX) – Colonel Bokeone of the Kasongo garrison in Maniema province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was dismissed from duty on 20 June 2004, following a brutal attack on a radio director that left him in the hospital with severe injuries. Modeste Shabani, director of the Kasongo-based Sauti ya Mkaaji (The Voice of the Farmer) community radio station, was attacked earlier that morning by a group of armed men under Bokeone’s control.
According to a JED representative who was able to visit Shabani on 29 June at the Goma hospital in North Kivu province, eastern DRC, where he had been transferred earlier that day, the journalist reported fractured hips, broken ribs, terrible pains at the base of his neck, as well as large lesions on his buttocks muscles. He also said that he had been transferred to the Goma hospital from Kasongo because of the severity of his injuries.
JED applauds the decision to dismiss Colonel Bokeone as a first step towards the eradication of a culture of impunity for press freedom violators in the DRC, but urges the government to try the case in a court of law.
