Congolese reporter ‘assaulted in custody’

JEAN Pierre Tshibitshabu, a reporter for the independent broadcaster Radio Television Kadekas, is due to appear in a Lubumbashi court, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), today on charges of incitement and provocation.

The charges against Tshibitshabu relate to July protests he was covering calling for elections to be held in the DRC, according to his lawyer, David Ilunga Sheria, and the Congolese press freedom advocacy organisation Journalistes en Danger.

Security forces arrested Tshibitshabu in Lubumbashi on July 31 as he tried to document events.

On the day of his arrest, police confiscated his phone and seized about 30 000 Congolese francs (about R253) as well as some $20.

However, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the DRC authorities to drop all charges against Tshibitshabu and simultaneously investigate claims that he was assaulted in custody after he was arrested.

“Congolese authorities should immediately release Jean Pierre Tshibitshabu, drop all charges against the journalist, and take action against those who attacked him in prison,” said CPJ Africa Programme Co-ordinator Angela Quintal.

Llunga said that when he was leaving Kasapa Central Prison after visiting Tshibitshabu on August 18, he witnessed prison inmates repeatedly slap and hit his client, and that prison guards did not intervene.

The lawyer said that the journalist sustained multiple cuts and bruises in the attack, adding that the prison failed to provide adequate medical treatment and that his client was still suffering from multiple injuries.

The DRC has experienced unrest since December last year, when President Joseph Kabila failed to hold scheduled elections.

CPJ is aware of at least 18 other journalists detained or harassed by DRC security forces on the same day Tshibitshabu was arrested. The other arrested journalists were released without charge.

Tshibitshabu plans to file a complaint against the security forces.