Ten
TV journalists arrested, material seized in Kinshasa raid
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) joins its
partner organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Journalist in Danger
(JED), in condemning the heavy-handed police raid on the Kinshasa-based TV
current affairs production company Kin Lartus on 25 July, in which the police
arrested ten journalists, ransacked the premises and seized material.
JED’s
press release follows:
Journalist in Danger (JED) condemns a raid
by members of the Congolese national police on Kin Lartus, a company that
produces a current affairs programme that is broadcast by several Kinshasa TV
channels. In the course of the raid, the police ransacked and seized
journalistic material and arrested ten journalists who were there at the time.
Various sources told JED that the group of
police officers raided the premises of Kin Lartus at around 1 p.m. on 25 July
as a result of a complaint by the producer of another TV current affairs programme
called “Kilartus,” who accuses the company of “fraudulently” using its logo and
name.
Immediately prior to the raid, two
plainclothes police officers, one of them a woman, arrived at the premises of Kin
Lartus and pretended to enquire about broadcast prices. While they were
receiving an explanation, other armed police suddenly stormed into the offices,
smashed equipment and seized material. The ten journalists present at the time
were bundled into a vehicle that took them to police headquarters.
Six of them were released late in the
evening, after Kin Lartus’ lawyer, Maki Makiese, intervened. The four other
journalists – Jean Jacques Kabeya, Ritha Musau, Doya Mayi and Fretace
Mbamanku – spent the night in police cells. Makiese told JED that the four
journalists still being held are accused by Ms. Kilala, their former employer,
of using “the emblems and names of her own current affairs programme.”
When reached by JED, Ms. Kilala said she
had referred the case to the judicial authorities in order to demand her
rights. “These are journalists who I recruited and who worked on my current
affairs programme Kilartus,” she said. “We had a disagreement and I fired them.
Instead of creating their own current affairs programme with their own name and
logo, the they used my brand name and my logo. I have no particular problem
with these journalists. I just want to protect my brand.”
Without entering into the
substance of the case, JED condemns the raid and confiscation of broadcast
material by police officers, which has reduced this media outlet to silence.
JED regards this attack on a media outlet as a serious press freedom violation
that must be stopped at once.