DRC: Journalist still detained after seven days

NAIROBI, 11 April (IRIN) - A journalist from the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC), Jose Feruzi Samwegele, remains in detention after seven
days with no charges brought against him, the international
freedom-of-the-press advocacy organisation, Reporters sans frontieres
(RSF), reported on Wednesday.

Samwegele, a journalist at the Radio-T$BqMqW(Bision Nationale Congolaise
2,
was arrested on 3 April by two agents of the Forces armees congolaises in
the DRC capital, Kinshasa. He was then taken to a solitary confinement
unit by a military body investigating anti-patriotic activities (DEMIAP or
Detection militaire des activites anti-patrie), RSF said. RSF stated that
the incident held basic rights up to ridicule. "We ask for his immediate
release. For now we are awaiting an official explanation of the reason for
his arrest."

Samwegele has reportedly been accused of circulating a communique from the
opposition group l'Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS)
that had been made public at the inter-Congolese dialogue currently taking
place in Sun City, South Africa.

RSF stated that under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which the DRC has ratified, all detainees are guaranteed
the right to be informed of any accusations against them.

Since the inauguration of President Joseph Kabila, 27 journalists have
been arrested by security forces, which continued to act with impunity,
RSF stated.
[ENDS]

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