(JED/IFEX) – At its 25 August 2000 hearing, the Court of Military Order (Cour d’ordre militaire, COM) granted a provisional release on bail to Richard Nsamba Olangi, publisher of the newspaper “Le Messager Africain”, and Nicolas Katako Okende, husband of the current minister of transportation and communications. The two defendents paid 30,000 FC (30,000 Congolese […]
(JED/IFEX) – At its 25 August 2000 hearing, the Court of Military Order (Cour d’ordre militaire, COM) granted a provisional release on bail to Richard Nsamba Olangi, publisher of the newspaper “Le Messager Africain”, and Nicolas Katako Okende, husband of the current minister of transportation and communications. The two defendents paid 30,000 FC (30,000 Congolese Francs, about US$1,300) and 40,000 FC (about US$1,700) bail, respectively.
Presided over by Commander Kalombo Kalubi, the court justified its decision by stating that there was no risk that the two defendents would flee to escape justice. The prosecution, represented by military prosecutor Ntsinu Pokuta, expressed its reservations regarding the selective nature of these provisional releases. Pokuta would have preferred that all the defendents (Katako, Aimé Kakese Vinalu, Nsamba and Jean-Pierre Mukuna Ekanga) benefit equally from this measure.
Kakese and Mukuna remain imprisoned, having been denied a provisional release. Nsamba’s provisional release reduces the number of journalists who are currently jailed in the Democratic Republic of Congo to three.
The next hearing is scheduled for Monday 28 August.
