(JED/IFEX) – Patrice Booto, publisher of the Kinshasa-based newspaper “Le Journal” and its supplement “Pool Malebo”, has been forced by police officers holding a gun to his head to reveal one of his sources. Fearing for his life, the journalist revealed the name of his source, who police officers immediately arrested. Neither judicial police officers […]
(JED/IFEX) – Patrice Booto, publisher of the Kinshasa-based newspaper “Le Journal” and its supplement “Pool Malebo”, has been forced by police officers holding a gun to his head to reveal one of his sources. Fearing for his life, the journalist revealed the name of his source, who police officers immediately arrested. Neither judicial police officers nor Booto revealed this individual’s identity to JED.
BACKGROUND:
In the early evening of 2 November 2005, Booto was arrested on Colonel Mondjiba Avenue in Kinshasa/Ngaliema by five armed men in civilian clothes who took him to the Kin-Mazière police station in Kinshasa/Gombe, where he is still detained.
On 9 November, JED was able to meet with the journalist, who said he had been questioned about articles published in the 16 to 19 September edition of “Le Journal” and the 15 to 20 September edition of “Pool Malebo”. These articles mentioned a US$30 million donation from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) “to the Republic of Tanzania’s education sector at a time when a labour conflict in the DRC pits the government against teachers’ unions.” The Congolese Episcopal Conference was said to be the source, but it denied the information.
On 19 September, the Haute Autorité des Médias (HAM, media regulatory body) suspended the two newspapers for three months on the grounds that the article contained “unverified statements, harmful accusations made with a total absence of rigour and in a quest for sensationalism” and was in breach of the DRC journalists’ code of ethics and professional practice. Since then, the two publications’ editorial staff have been in hiding.
