**Updates IFEX alerts of 14 and 7 March, 24 and 16 February, 20, 19, 18, 11 and 7 January 2000** (JED/IFEX) – On Monday 3 April 2000, the Court of Military Order (Cour d’ordre militaire, COM), continued its deliberations at a public hearing in Kinshasa in the prosecution of Freddy Loseke Lisumbu la Yayenga, publisher […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 14 and 7 March, 24 and 16 February, 20, 19, 18, 11 and 7
January 2000**
(JED/IFEX) – On Monday 3 April 2000, the Court of Military Order (Cour d’ordre militaire, COM), continued its deliberations at a public hearing in Kinshasa in the prosecution of Freddy Loseke Lisumbu la Yayenga, publisher of the newspaper “La Libre Afrique”. However, the case was postponed until Friday 7 April, following a request by the public prosecutor, Moke Alumba, who sought more time to prepare the case initiated by his colleague Jérôme Lobenga, who is currently travelling.
In the absence of his usual team of lawyers, Loseke was represented by André-Marie Muila Kayembe, a lawyer with the Kinshasa/Matete bar and president of the non-governmental organisation Toges Noires (Black Gowns). Muila asked that the legal action against his client be dismissed, stating that Loseke should benefit from the recent presidential decree-law which brought about a general amnesty. In response, the COM stated that it would examine the facts of the case themselves rather than a qualification of the facts.
