(JED/IFEX) – On 3 August 2004, Jose Wakadila, a journalist with the daily “La Référence Plus”, appeared in a Kinshasa court to face defamation charges filed by the Congolese Oil Refinery Industries Corporation (Société Congolaise des Industries de Raffinage du Pétrole, SOCIR). Wakadila had also received anonymous telephone threats on 26 and 27 July. The […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 3 August 2004, Jose Wakadila, a journalist with the daily “La Référence Plus”, appeared in a Kinshasa court to face defamation charges filed by the Congolese Oil Refinery Industries Corporation (Société Congolaise des Industries de Raffinage du Pétrole, SOCIR). Wakadila had also received anonymous telephone threats on 26 and 27 July.
The SOCIR claim, which cites both Wakadila and “La Référence Plus”, accuses the journalist of slandering the company in a 17 July article entitled, “The SOCIR and Kinlao refinery are destined to disappear”. The SOCIR said the article’s sole aim was “to tarnish the reputation of SOCIR directors and staff, as well as the company’s foreign shareholders and partners.” The SOCIR was represented by company president Mvwemba Ntala Félix and vice-president of the board Jacobus Terrablanche.
According to information received by JED on 5 August, the anonymous callers who phoned Wakadila on 26 and 27 July told him, “You picked the wrong target when you went after Vice President Yerodia’s younger brother.” Félix, SOCIR director and chairman of the board, is the brother of Congolese Vice President Abdoulaye Yerodia.
