(JED/IFEX) – On 7 June 2003, at 9:00 a.m. (local time), officers from the National Intelligence Agency’s Tshikapa branch (ANR/Tshikapa-Cité) arrested and detained Romain Kambala Bilolo, director of the private broadcaster Kasaï Horizon Radiotélévision (KHRT), in Tshikapa (West Kasai province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s central region). The officers took Bilolo to the security […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 7 June 2003, at 9:00 a.m. (local time), officers from the National Intelligence Agency’s Tshikapa branch (ANR/Tshikapa-Cité) arrested and detained Romain Kambala Bilolo, director of the private broadcaster Kasaï Horizon Radiotélévision (KHRT), in Tshikapa (West Kasai province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s central region). The officers took Bilolo to the security services’ local detention centre, where he was questioned. The journalist was released at around 6:15 p.m. the same day, with instructions to send his station’s programming director and editor-in-chief to the local ANR offices for questioning on 9 June at 9:00 a.m.
According to information received by JED, Bilolo was accused of “spreading false news, intoxication and inciting the population to rebellion”. The journalist’s arrest was linked to KHRT’s airing of a report, during its 2 June newscast, about a conflict between two individuals, Fwamba Kabongo and Kabeya Mashi Mabi, regarding the property rights to the Lungudi diamond mine.
In a 2 June telephone discussion with JED, Isidore Lokanga, an ANR/Tshikapa-Cité official, confirmed that Bilolo’s arrest was linked to the broadcaster’s airing of the contentious news report. Lokanga added, “Journalists in Tshikapa put [us] in an uncomfortable position by airing false news with the sole intent of upsetting citizens and inciting them to revolt.” The ANR/Tshikapa-Cité official also told JED, “The Lungudi mine employs at least 10,000 people. The news item broadcast on KHRT could have caused all these people to take to the streets in protest, and the city of Tshikapa does not have the means to contain such a serious revolt.”
