Articles by Journaliste en danger (JED)
Journalist released after spending 75 days in prison
(JED/IFEX) – Kazadi Mukendi, also known as Kazadi Kwambi Kasumpata, a journalist with the Kinshasa-based weekly “Lubilanji Expansion”, was released on 5 July 2006 after spending 75 days in detention at a Kinshasa jail (Centre pénitentiaire et de rééducation de Kinshasa, CPRK, the former Makala prison). Questioned by JED shortly after he left prison, the […]
Businessman angered by news report destroys radio station’s equipment
(JED/IFEX) – On 5 July 2006, a community radio station in Kolwezi (Radio communautaire libre de Kolwezi, RCL), 300 km north of Lubumbashi, the main city of Katanga province, in southern DR Congo, was the victim of an act of vandalism perpetrated by Mr. Barwani, a businessman with the Bazano group that extracts cobalt from […]
RFI special envoy expelled
(JED/IFEX) – JED has voiced deep disapproval following the expulsion from Kinshasa of Ghislaine Dupont, Radio France International’s (RFI) special envoy, on 3 July 2006. So far, Congolese authorities have provided no official explanation for the decision. Accompanied by Didier Lagueny, the French Consul in Kinshasa, Dupont was summoned to the Congolese Intelligence Services (Direction […]
Brazzaville court suspends newspaper for six months
(JED/IFEX) – In a 28 June 2006 verdict pronounced by a Brazzaville court, the Brazzaville-based weekly “Thalassa” was banned from publication for six months. In addition, the court ordered the incineration of all the copies of the paper’s edition that featured an article judged to be slanderous towards Denis Sassou Nguesso, the country’s president. The […]
State prosecutor fails to execute order for journalist’s release
(JED/IFEX) – In a 16 June 2006 letter, Nkata Bayoyo, general inspector of judicial services and state advocate-general, demanded that the state prosecutor for the Kinshasa/Gombe High Court explain the motives for refusing to execute a 24 May order for the provisional release of Kazadi Mukendi, better known as Kazadi Kwambi Kasumpata, a journalist with […]
Journalist sentenced to four months in prison and payment of US$5,000 in damages
(JED/IFEX) – On 14 June 2006, Kazadi Kwambi Kasumpata, freelance correspondent for the Kinshasa-based weekly newspaper “Lubilanji Expansion”, was sentenced to four months in prison and payment of US$5,000 in damages and interest for “harmful allegations” against the Protestant University of Congo (UPC). As of 23 June, the journalist, who has been jailed at the […]
Journalist jailed and beaten on orders of police chief
(JED/IFEX) – Gaston Ngalamulume, a journalist with the Kamako-based and privately-owned Radio Etoile, was arrested and jailed on 22 June 2006 on the orders of Médard Kabutakapu, the local police chief. Kamako is 150 km from Tshikapa, the second city in Western Kasaï Province, in central Democratic Republic of Congo. Early in the morning, Ngalamulume […]
Unknown persons write threats on the doors of a privately-owned radio station
(JED/IFEX) – On the morning of 19 June 2006, when they reached their office, Jean-Pierre Lifoli, Laurent Kangisa and Justin Lifoli – director, journalist and technician, respectively, at the Kisangani-based, privately-owned Radio Mwangaza – were surprised to find their names chalk-written on the radio station’s doors. Beside the names were phrases written in Lingala, one […]