(JED/IFEX) – Dany Zahira Sefu, a journalist from RTD (Radiotélévision Deogracias) – a local NGO-owned station broadcast from Kasumbalesa, a town on the Zambian border in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s south-east – was released on 16 December 2005 in Lubumbashi by the presidential military group GSSP (Groupe Spécial de Sécurité Présidentielle) after having spent […]
(JED/IFEX) – Dany Zahira Sefu, a journalist from RTD (Radiotélévision Deogracias) – a local NGO-owned station broadcast from Kasumbalesa, a town on the Zambian border in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s south-east – was released on 16 December 2005 in Lubumbashi by the presidential military group GSSP (Groupe Spécial de Sécurité Présidentielle) after having spent 48 hours in detention in a military prison in Kasumbalesa.
On 14 December 2005, he was beaten and arrested by military officers from DEMIAP (Détection Militaire des Activités Anti-Patrie), a military agency for anti-state activity in Kasumbalesa. Then on the morning of 16 December 2005 he was transferred to Lubumbashi, chief headquarters of Kantanga Province, where he was then released. The officers confiscated his mobile phone even though no charges had been laid against him.
According to information obtained by Journaliste en danger (JED), the military officers accused the journalist of “going overboard in his commentary” during a radio show broadcast on 14 December. During the programme, Zahira Sefu had spoken about the 13 December suspension of the base commander at Kasumbalesa who, according to the journalist, was linked to customs fraud on the border.
During his verbal hearing, Zahira Sefu was summoned to reveal his sources for the story.
JED also calls attention to two other journalists, Patrice Booto and Ntumba Lumembu, who have been detained without judgment for one and four months respectively, at Kinshasa’s Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre (Centre pénitentiaire et de rééducation de Kinshasa, CPRK, formerly Makala Central Prison).
