DRC journalist jailed over criticism of provincial governor during phone-in show
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of a journalist in Mai-Ndombe, a province in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who has been held for more than two weeks for hosting a phone-in radio show in which listeners criticised the province’s governor.
Update (13/05/2024): On 10 May 2024, journalist Blaise Mabala was released from Makala prison in Kinshasa after being acquitted a week earlier. He had been held there since 24 January. Released on bail on 7 November, the journalist from radio Même Morale FM was arrested again on 29 December on the same charges.
Blaise Mabala, a reporter for the Okapinews website and host of a show on Même Morale FM, a privately-owned community radio station based in Inongo, the provincial capital, was arrested by a plainclothes member of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) on 20 October.
According to the information gathered by RSF, Mabala was initially held at a military camp in the city without any grounds being given for his arrest. It was only three days later that he was brought before the Inongo high court and accused of contempt for authority, a charge with a possible nine-month prison sentence. He was finally transferred to Inongo’s prison on 27 October. No date has so far been set for his trial.
In the phone-in show hosted by Mabala on 18 October, several listeners criticised Mai-Ndombe governor Rita Bola. RSF has learned that the critics included Jack Bombaka, the radio station’s owner, who is also Mai-Ndombe deputy governor. Without identifying himself, he accused Bola of incompetence and being involved in embezzling public funds. Mabala has also been denounced for broadcasting a song critical of Bola.
Mabala is charged on the basis of a complaint brought by a supporter of Bola’s party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), whose leader is the DRC’s president, Félix Tshisekedi. But the complaint was filed on 21 October, one day after his arrest, meaning the ANR acted without any judicial grounds.
Criticisms and allegations made by listeners should not result in a journalist’s arrest. Blaise Mabala’s imprisonment is an abuse. RSF calls on the authorities to drop the charges and release him immediately.
Mabala’s arrest comes against a disturbing backdrop for press freedom in the DRC that is described in a report published on 1 November by Journalist in Danger (JED), RSF’s partner organisation.
With just weeks to go to elections in the DRC, RSF is urging presidential candidates to give ten undertakings to support press freedom, including supporting calls for the withdrawal of all charges against Stanis Bujakera, a journalist currently on trial whose next hearing is scheduled for 17 November.
