(JED/IFEX) – Mukebayi Nkoso, publication director of the Kinshasa based twice-weekly “The Post”, was summoned to appear before the Kinshasa/Gombe Court on Thursday 24 May 2001, further to the filing of a petition by former minister of communications Dominique Sakombi Inongo. In the summons, which is dated 14 May, the former minister accuses the journalist […]
(JED/IFEX) – Mukebayi Nkoso, publication director of the Kinshasa based twice-weekly “The Post”, was summoned to appear before the Kinshasa/Gombe Court on Thursday 24 May 2001, further to the filing of a petition by former minister of communications Dominique Sakombi Inongo.
In the summons, which is dated 14 May, the former minister accuses the journalist of making prejudicial statements, in accordance with Article 74 of Penal Code Book II, which stipulates that “one who spitefully and publicly attributes a specific fact to a person which is of a nature likely to undermine the person’s honour or respect, or expose them to public scorn, will be punishable by a prison term of eight days to one year”. Sakombi is seeking fifty million Congolese francs in damages and interest (approx. US$166,000).
In its 3 May edition (issue 9-112), “The Post” published an article by Nkoso titled: “the confiscation of TKM allowed Sakombi to obtain monthly grants of 200,000 dollars from L.D. Kabila”. Quoting the London based magazine “Grands Lacs”, the journalist stated that the former minister was receiving monthly grants of US$200,000 from former president Laurent-Désiré Kabila for the operation of the seized stations RTKM (Radiotélévision Kin-Malebo) and Canal Kin. In his right of reply, published in the newspaper’s 10 May edition (issue 9-113), Sakombi stated that he had received the sum of 4,491,967 Congolese francs (approx. US$80,000) each month (January, February and March 2001), and that the funds were “given over to the media outlets’ [RTKM and Canal Kin’s] official representatives.”
