(JED/IFEX) – Delly Bonsange and Raymond Kabala, publisher and publication director, respectively, of the Kinshasa-based newspaper “Alerte-Plus” have been detained illegally at Kinshasa’s Penitentiary and Re-education Centre (Centre pénitentiaire et de ré-éducation de Kinshasa, CPRK, former Makala Central Prison) since 31 August 2002. On that day, the eight days granted by law to the court […]
(JED/IFEX) – Delly Bonsange and Raymond Kabala, publisher and publication director, respectively, of the Kinshasa-based newspaper “Alerte-Plus” have been detained illegally at Kinshasa’s Penitentiary and Re-education Centre (Centre pénitentiaire et de ré-éducation de Kinshasa, CPRK, former Makala Central Prison) since 31 August 2002. On that day, the eight days granted by law to the court to make its ruling public expired.
Fourteen days after the closure of the trial’s proceedings on 22 August, the Kinshasa/N’djili tribunal has still not delivered any verdict in the two journalists’ cases, which pits them against Security and Public Order Minister Mwenze Kongolo. The delay is in violation of Article 80 of the Penal Procedure Code which stipulates that “verdicts are delivered at the latest within eight days of the closure of proceedings”.
In a 5 August letter to the justice minister, JED states that the detention of the two journalists is consequently illegal and without any foundation other than to silence them, which constitutes a serious press freedom violation. For this reason, JED asked the minister to do everything in his power to put an end to the two journalists’ suffering, which adds up to nearly 50 days of being deprived of their liberty.
Moreover, JED reminded the minister of the spirit of his 9 August letter to Appeals Court and Military Order Court (Cour d’Ordre militaire, COM) prosecutors. The organisation also recalled the workshop on 24 and 26 August organised by the Human Rights Ministry, which brought together judges, security services officials, journalists and human rights defenders, with the goal of putting an end to the arbitrary arrests and detentions of journalists.
Bonsange and Kabala are being prosecuted for directing “harmful accusations” against the security and public order minister in an article published about his health.
