(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: **Updates IFEX alerts as noted in the text** Paris, 4 May 1999 For immediate release WAN Condemns Imprisonment of Journalists in DR Congo The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the imprisonment of three journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo and said their trials had […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
**Updates IFEX alerts as noted in the text**
Paris, 4 May 1999
For immediate release
WAN Condemns Imprisonment of Journalists in DR Congo
The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the imprisonment of three
journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo and said their trials had
failed to observe “international norms of natural justice.”
Thierry Kyalumba, editor of the bi-weekly Vision, was sentenced to four
years in prison with no parole by the Court of Military Order on 30 March on
charges of “compromising State security” after writing an article entitled
“Eighty tonnes of Ugandan missiles for the Kasaï front.” He has been
detained since 12 January (see IFEX alerts of 31 March, 26 March, 25 March,
16 March, 15 March and 19 January 1999).
In a separate hearing on 3 April, Gustave Kalenga, editor-in-chief of the
weekly La Flamme du Congo, and Kasonga Tshilunde, editor-in-chief of
L’Eveil, were sentenced by the Lagombe court in Kinshasa to, respectively,
eight-month and ten-month prison terms with no parole (see IFEX alerts of 27
April and 6 April 1999).
Their trial followed a complaint filed by Minière de Bawanga, a diamond
mining company, and its chief executive officer, after the journalists had
reportedly accused senior employees of misappropriating funds and stealing
diamonds. The sentence, announced in the absence of the defendants, was
followed by an arrest order.
“We are concerned at both the severity of these sentences and the apparent
failure to observe international norms of natural justice,” the Paris-based
WAN said in a letter to President Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
“A military tribunal is an inappropriate venue in which to prosecute a
journalist,” said the letter, signed by WAN President Bengt Braun. “In the
case of Mr Kalenga and Mr Tshilunde, we are concerned that prosecution took
place in the absence of the journalists and without their having an
opportunity to present a defence.”
WAN said Mr Kyalumba should be released and the arrest warrants for Mr
Kalenga and Mr Tshilunde should be withdrawn.
“We urge you to ensure that both cases are heard by civil courts in an
impartial manner and that internationally accepted civil remedies are the
only possible sanctions,” WAN said to President Kabila.
WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and
promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 15,000 newspapers; its
membership includes 58 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper
executives in 90 countries, 17 news agencies and seven regional press
groups.
