(JED/IFEX) – On 20 July 2004, journalists Brahimu Mohamed Kambumbu and Losatcha Omenguo, host and editor-in-chief, respectively, of Congolese National Radio-television’s (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) local station in Maniema province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, appeared before the Kindu High Court to face defamation and insult charges. Kindu is Maniema province’s main city. The charges […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 20 July 2004, journalists Brahimu Mohamed Kambumbu and Losatcha Omenguo, host and editor-in-chief, respectively, of Congolese National Radio-television’s (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) local station in Maniema province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, appeared before the Kindu High Court to face defamation and insult charges. Kindu is Maniema province’s main city.
The charges against Kambumbu and Omenguo were brought by Chakila Biaka, a former local president of the Congolese Initiative for the Reconstruction of Goma (Initiative congolaise pour la reconstruction de Goma, ICG), a collective of non-governmental development organisations whose headquarters are located in Kinshasa/Limeté.
According to JED’s information, on 15 May, RTNC/Kindu aired a news item in which the station reported on “Mr. Biaka’s dismissal for embezzlement of a US$29,000 fund granted to ICG for the repair of a 25 km stretch of the Nioka to Pangi road”. The journalists obtained the information from sources close to the auditing team that was sent to Kindu. Biaka claims the broadcast of the news item on RTNC/Kindu’s airwaves was “an attack on [his] honour and insulting.”
During the court hearing, the court authorities focused chiefly on getting the journalists to reveal their sources for the story. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 3 August.
