By Anderson CooperSilence. When a journalist is killed, more often than not, there is silence. In Russia, someone followed Anna Politkovskaya home and quietly shot her to death in her apartment building. The killer muffled the sound of the gun with a silencer. Her murder made headlines around the world in October, but from the…
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO The murder of freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba in the weeks before historic national elections cast a deep chill over the media, whose members were already subject to frequent attacks and intimidation. Mwamba was the second journalist to be shot to death in his home in eight months. Attacks on the press…
New York, January 11, 2007—The director of a newspaper in the capital, Kinshasa, was jailed today for an 11-month term and his publication suspended for six weeks on a criminal defamation charge, according to the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and local journalists. Rigobert Kwakala Kash, who also edits the private twice-weekly…
November 29, 2006 Original Alert: November 28, 2006 Clément Nku, Canal Congo Télévision IMPRISONED Nku, a cameraman of the private station owned by former presidential contender Jean-Pierre Bemba, was released by police after eight days in detention without charge, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and CCTV director Blondel Bokoko.
UPDATE November 29, 2006Original Alert: November 28, 2006Honoré Kabongo, Radiotélévision Kintuadi (RTK)IMPRISONED Kabongo, the host of a news talk show with the religious TV station, was released without charge after four days in detention, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and RTK administrative director Adelin Mboma. He had been arrested in his…
New York, November 28, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that the DRC’s newly elected authorities have been holding two journalists for the past week, while arresting a third on Saturday. All three are being held incommunicado by police in the capital, Kinshasa, after reporting on the aftermath of presidential elections. Clément…
UPDATE September 25, 2006 Original Alert: September 20, 2006 Feu d’Or Bosange, Tapis Rouge IMPRISONED Bosange, editor of the private, Kinshasa-based newspaper, was released on bail after nearly two weeks in detention, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). He was jailed over an article alleging corruption by a top tax official.…
New York, September 20, 2006—A journalist has been jailed for the past week and charged with defamation over a story that alleged corruption by a top tax official, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and a public official. Feu d’Or Bosange, editor of private newspaper Tapis Rouge (Red Carpet) has since…
New York, September 1, 2006—Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo are holding a former soldier and two civilians in connection with the July 8 murder of freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba, according to the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger and Agence France-Presse. Kinshasa regional police chief Gen. Patrick Sabiti told journalists Thursday that…