(JED/IFEX) – Xavier Bonané ya Nganzi, managing editor of the newspaper “Vision”, who was recently named as member of parliament by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, was released on Sunday 16 July 2000. He had been detained for five days in an underground cell of the National Information Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR), in Kinshasa/Gombe. The […]
(JED/IFEX) – Xavier Bonané ya Nganzi, managing editor of the newspaper “Vision”, who was recently named as member of parliament by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, was released on Sunday 16 July 2000. He had been detained for five days in an underground cell of the National Information Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR), in Kinshasa/Gombe.
The journalist was driven home shortly before 5:00 p.m. (local time), in an ANR vehicle.
According to members of the “Vision” staff, ANR leaders admitted that they had detained the wrong individual. They had been seeking another person named Bonané, who had allegedly made a recent trip to Europe, where he undertook “subversive activities” against the Kabila regime. The wrongly-detained managing editor had pleaded not guilty, while proving that he had not travelled to Europe.
“Vision”‘s materials should be returned very shortly. The newspaper’s materials were seized during a search of its offices on the day of Bonané’s arrest.
It should be noted that Bonané was not brought before a judge during his detention.
