(JED/IFEX) – On 6 January 2005 in Kinshasa/Limete, Congolese National Police detained four journalists who were covering a demonstration organised by the Kinshasa Student Coordinating Committee (Coordination Estudiantine de Kinshasa). The detentions took place just before noon (local time). The four journalists were taken to the Provincial Inspectorate of the Kinshasa city police (Inspection provinciale […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 6 January 2005 in Kinshasa/Limete, Congolese National Police detained four journalists who were covering a demonstration organised by the Kinshasa Student Coordinating Committee (Coordination Estudiantine de Kinshasa). The detentions took place just before noon (local time). The four journalists were taken to the Provincial Inspectorate of the Kinshasa city police (Inspection provinciale de la Police de la ville de Kinshasa, formerly CIRCO), where they were questioned about the “motive for their presence at the site of the student demonstration”. They were released at about 2:30 p.m. A camera belonging to one of the journalists was damaged.
The four journalists detained were: Pedy Diamayembo, a cameraman with L’Avenir Radio-Television (Radiotélévision Groupe l’Avenir, RTGA), Dienny Kanyinda of the daily “L’Avenir”, Freddy Longangu of “Alerte Plus” and Martin Kayembe of the twice-weekly “Le Révélateur”.
JED was able to meet with the four journalists at the police station. They said student leaders had invited them to cover the demonstration, which was to take place at Lumumba square (Place de l’Echangeur in Kinshasa/Limete, where there is a statue of Patrice Emery Lumumba, the country’s first post-independence prime minister who was assassinated in 1961).
JED was also able to meet with Commander Dieudonné Coputra, who is responsible for the case. Coputra said the journalists have not yet been officially charged with any offence, but “the investigation continues to establish the motive for their presence at the site where the students were holding their meeting.”
