(JED/IFEX) – Since 16 September 2006, Mr. Feu d’Or Bosange, the editor of the Kinshasa-based newspaper “Tapis Rouge”, has been detained in a Kinshasa penitentiary (Centre Pénitentiaire et de Rééducation de Kinshasa, CPRK). The editor was charged with “defamation and damaging allegations”, against the head of the public tax office (Direction Général des impost, DGI), […]
(JED/IFEX) – Since 16 September 2006, Mr. Feu d’Or Bosange, the editor of the Kinshasa-based newspaper “Tapis Rouge”, has been detained in a Kinshasa penitentiary (Centre Pénitentiaire et de Rééducation de Kinshasa, CPRK). The editor was charged with “defamation and damaging allegations”, against the head of the public tax office (Direction Général des impost, DGI), Mr. Sam Bokolombe.
Bosange is accused of defamation after publishing, in the 16 August 2006 issue (number 0561) of “Tapis Rouge”, an article entitled: “Scandal at DGI”, in which the editor accused Bokolombe of embezzling funds. These funds reportedly allowed Bokolombe to purchase four luxurious villas throughout Kinshasa. The article also stated that Bokolombe had allegedly offered brand new limousines to girlfriends and to colleagues working for the DGI.
The circumstances around the editor’s arrest indicate that he may have been a victim of trickery involving the judiciary inspectors from the public prosecutor’s office who acted in complicity with Bokolombe. On 12 September, Bosange received a phone call from Bokolombe, inviting the editor to his office to discuss the article in question. Upon his arrival, the editor was directly apprehended by the judicial inspectors who took him to their headquarters.
There, Bosange’s statement on the article was heard, he was found guilty of “defamation and damaging allegations” and was then transferred, on 16 September, to the CPRK.
