(JED/IFEX) – On Wednesday 16 February 2000, Richard Nsamba Olangi Diata, publisher of the pro-governmental Kinshasa newspaper “Le Messager Africain”, was arrested by five members of the Congolese National Police’s (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) special services and taken to the jail commonly known as “Kin-Mazière” in Kinshasa/Gombe. During an interrogation in which he was repeatedly […]
(JED/IFEX) – On Wednesday 16 February 2000, Richard Nsamba Olangi Diata, publisher of the pro-governmental Kinshasa newspaper “Le Messager Africain”, was arrested by five members of the Congolese National Police’s (Police nationale congolaise, PNC) special services and taken to the jail commonly known as “Kin-Mazière” in Kinshasa/Gombe.
During an interrogation in which he was repeatedly threatened, Nsamba was accused of “insulting the state minister” in charge of the interior, Gaëtan Kakudji. His captors also asked him questions about his ethnic background as well as his relationship to certain Congolese politicians. Two other troubling questions were asked of the journalist: “Mr. Editor, do you remember the number of journalists killed last year while pursuing their professional work?” and “Do you remember the sad fate of your colleague Norbert Zongo in Burkina Faso, which we have been hearing about so much recently?” Following a second interrogation, the journalist was imprisoned for “defamation”.
The journalist was released on Friday 18 February, after the PNC told Nsamba about the state minister in charge of the interior’s verbal decision to prohibit publication of “Le Messager Africain”, under the pretext that the newspaper did not have a file at the Ministry of Information. The journalist categorically denies that this is the case. In fact, issue 122 of the newspaper was available for sale on Tuesday 22 February.
