(JED/IFEX) – On Tuesday 6 March 2001, in the early afternoon, Guy Kasongo Kilembwe, editor-in-chief of the Kinshasa-based satirical weekly “Pot-Pourri”, was transferred to a Kinshasa office of the National Information Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR). JED was told that Kasongo was transferred to the ANR by order of an unidentified member of the […]
(JED/IFEX) – On Tuesday 6 March 2001, in the early afternoon, Guy Kasongo Kilembwe, editor-in-chief of the Kinshasa-based satirical weekly “Pot-Pourri”, was transferred to a Kinshasa office of the National Information Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR).
JED was told that Kasongo was transferred to the ANR by order of an unidentified member of the government. The organisation had earlier sent one of its investigators and a lawyer to visit the journalist in the cell where he was initially held, at the National Congolese Police station located in the former Régina Hotel in Kinshasa/Gombe. According to information gathered at the journalist’s original place of detention, Kasongo is accused of slandering State Ministers Gaëtan Kakudji and Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi, responsible for the interior and national education portfolios, respectively.
Kasongo was taken in for questioning on Wednesday 28 February in Kinshasa. JED representatives met with him on Saturday 3 March and Monday 5 March, in his cell at the former Régina Hotel.
According to information received by JED, Kasongo was heard concerning information which was published in the Friday 23 February edition of “Pot-Pourri” under the headline “Kabila II Already Entranced”. In another article, the newspaper drew up a list of ministers whom the new president must absolutely get rid of. They include Kakudji.
Kasongo told JED that his police interrogation was more specifically focused on “the satirical newspaper’s manifest hatred towards Minister of State Kakudji.”
