(JED/IFEX) – Gustave Mpinganayi, a correspondent for the Tshikapa-based Radio Kilimandjaro station in Kamonia, and a local correspondent for the Kinshasa-based weekly “Le Grande Monde”, appeared before a Kamonia satellite division of the Tshikapa court on 7 July 2004 to face charges of “offending” a local tribal chief. Kamonia is located approximately 80 km from […]
(JED/IFEX) – Gustave Mpinganayi, a correspondent for the Tshikapa-based Radio Kilimandjaro station in Kamonia, and a local correspondent for the Kinshasa-based weekly “Le Grande Monde”, appeared before a Kamonia satellite division of the Tshikapa court on 7 July 2004 to face charges of “offending” a local tribal chief. Kamonia is located approximately 80 km from Tshikapa, the second largest city in Western Kasai province.
In the court’s summons, of which JED was able to obtain a copy, the journalist was officially charged with “breaching the privacy of [wealthy Wamba Tshako Chief] Tshinota Watala”. The chief is seeking US$6,000 in damages.
In an article that appeared in the 1-7 April edition of “Le Grand Monde”, entitled, “Kamonia: Wamba Tshako chief linked to [real-estate] scheme,” Mpinganayi reported on an allegedly illegal real estate deal in which Watala reportedly side-stepped local laws by not dealing directly with the legitimate landowner.
Lawyers Thomas Kashama and Gustave Luabeya, who represented the journalist at his court appearance on 7 July, raised a series of objections forcing the court to adjourn Mpinganayi’s hearing until they could be examined in further detail.
