Still awaiting his trial, the correspondent of “Jeune Afrique” has been incarcerated for several weeks following an article questioning Congolese intelligence. Calls for his release are increasing.
Congolese journalist Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, arrested on September 8 and detained since, is awaiting the date of his trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This incarceration follows an unsigned article published on the magazine’s website. Young Africa.
For Charles Mushizi, head of the defense lawyers collective of Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, his client is subject to pre-trial detention “irregular” since “Nothing” does not justify it. “The conditions in which he is detained are execrable,” he confides to franceinfo. The 33-year-old journalist is in Makala prison, in Kinshasa, “initially planned for 1,600 people” but where there are “16,000”.
He faces up to 10 years in prison
Co-founder anddeputy publication director of the Congolese news site Actualite.cd, correspondent for the monthly Young Africa and the British agency Reuters in his country, the journalist is notably pursued for “forgery, falsification of state seals, propagation of false rumors and transmission of erroneous messages contrary to the law”, details his lawyer. These accusations “relevant digital code”.
Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala risks “up to ten years in prison”, “which is serious for someone who only informed public opinion within the framework of his profession”, underlines Charles Mushizi again. “[Il] is known for his righteousness, his rigor and his inflexibility, and perhaps this is also what some, at the heart of power, seek to make him pay.writes Anne Kappès-Grangé, editor-in-chief of Young Africa.
“Thinly veiled” threats
The article at the origin of Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala’s legal setbacks was published at the end of August on the journal’s website. He reports that “a confidential note written by the internal security department of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR)” evoked “the role that Congolese military intelligence could have played” in the murder, in July, of Chérubin Okende, former minister and spokesperson for the party of Congolese opponent Moïse Katumbi.
The journalist “knew threatened” Since “several months” : “He told us of unacceptable attempts at intimidation, of barely veiled threats, notably from members of the government who criticized him for not being with them‘”, says Anne Kappès-Grangé. “This is extremely worrying. A country that claims to be democratic does not put its journalists in prison”she adds.
“His incarceration, less than three months before a presidential election, is a very clear signal sent to all journalists who would like to do their work seriously and with integrity.”
Anne Kappès-Grangé, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Jeune Afrique”at franceinfo
Asked in September about the fate of the journalist during a press conference in New York, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, candidate for his succession, replied that he could not “obstructing justice and not allowing it to shed light on it”. “He covered [ma campagne]. He was in every fight with us, so you see, I have sympathy for this young man. I regret what happened to him.” the leader also declared, as reported by France 24.
Young Africa and Actualite.cd have for their part launched the #FreeStanis campaign. Around sixty journalists, African and international personalities denounce in videos an attack on press freedom and demand the release of the detainee. Amnesty International has also just launched “urgent action” according to Actualite.cd. Other associations are mobilized, such as Reporters Without Borders, as well as civil society actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The European Union and the United States have expressed their concerns about threats to press freedom in this country.
If the trial date remains unknown, his lawyer believes that this should not be the case.hanging around because the physical file is already in front of the court registry.” Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala’s defense wants the journalist “be released, so that as a free man he can continue to cooperate with justice until the complete resolution of this case for which we consider that he has no individual criminal responsibility.”