(JED/IFEX) – At a Thursday 7 September 2000 public hearing, the prosecution for the Court of Military Order (Cour d’ordre militaire COM), represented by Commander Tsinu Phukuta, called for a sentence of ten years in prison for journalists Emile-Aimé Kakese Vinalu (publisher of the newspaper “Le Carrousel”), Jean-Pierre Mukuna Ekanga (editor of “La Tribune de […]
(JED/IFEX) – At a Thursday 7 September 2000 public hearing, the prosecution for the Court of Military Order (Cour d’ordre militaire COM), represented by Commander Tsinu Phukuta, called for a sentence of ten years in prison for journalists Emile-Aimé Kakese Vinalu (publisher of the newspaper “Le Carrousel”), Jean-Pierre Mukuna Ekanga (editor of “La Tribune de la Nation”) and Richard Nsamba Olangi (publisher of “Messager Africain”).
In the opinion of the prosecution, the charge of “treason”, for which the three journalists are being prosecuted, has been established “in fact and in law.” But the accused, according to the prosecution, benefit from attenuating circumstances since “they are responsible for families and they have never been convicted by the courts.”
The defence lawyers demonstrated that their clients have never participated in any acts of “demoralisation of the army or of the nation”, of which they are accused.
The speech for the defence continues on Friday 8 September before the COM reaches its verdict.
As for Nicolas Katako Okende, accused along with the three journalists and husband of the former minister of transportation and communication, the prosecution called for a sentence of fifteen years in prison.
The three journalists, of which two (Kakese and Mukuna) are already in prison, are accused of treason for publishing articles judged hostile to the government in power in Kinshasa. Katako is being prosecuted for, among other things, accomodating in his premises the offices of the three newspapers considered to be “manifestly hostile to the government”.
