(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 […]
(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 the Kinshasa-based weekly “Lubilanji Expansion”.
The explanation request, which results from a complaint to the general inspector by Kazadi, has remained unanswered so far. But against all expectations, while the provisional release request was still under examination at the Kinshasa/Gombe High Court, the Gombe Peace Tribunal, in violation of established legal principles, went on trying the journalist in his lawyers’ absence. It was under these circumstances that, on 14 June, it sentenced the journalist to four months in prison and payment of a US$5,000 fine. This ruling has never been officially communicated to the journalist, who is detained at the state penitentiary in Kinshasa (Centre Pénitentiaire et de Rééducation de Kinshasa, CPRK). According to the Congolese Code of Criminal Procedure, Kazadi has 10 days from the date of the verdict to launch an appeal.
“From now on, JED is entitled to consider Kazadi a personal prisoner of the state prosecutor. This resembles harassment against the journalist, obviously with the goal of either pleasing or executing the will of the plaintiff, which is the Protestant University of Congo [Université Protestante du Congo, UPC],” said JED’s Secretary-General Tshivis Tshivuadi.
JED denounces the attitude of the Gombe state prosecutor, who is illegally detaining a journalist whose provisional release was ordered by a competent authority on 24 May. As an organisation responsible for ensuring that the letter of the law is applied, JED urges the state prosecutor to execute without delay the ruling in favour of the journalist.
BACKGROUND:
Kazadi Kwambi Kasumpata was arrested on 20 April following the publication of an article denouncing the embezzlement of funds and mismanagement of donations by the UPC. On 14 June, he was sentenced to four months in prison and payment of US$5,000 in damages for “damaging allegations” against the UPC. Informed of the situation, JED’s lawyers, with the journalist’s authorisation, launched an appeal on 26 June.
