L’inchiesta svolta dalle autorità congolesi per identificare i colpevoli è stata effettuata con una rapidità eccessiva, soprattutto considerando che è prevista la pena di morte. Bisogna assicurarsi che le persone arrestate sia proprio quelle responsabili. Reporters sans frontières chiede che venga aperta una contro-inchiesta da un tribunale civile per verificare che l’indagine iniziale sia stata sufficientemente approfondita.

Secondo l’organizzazione Journaliste en Ranger (JED), la vedova di Patient Chebeya Bankome, principale testimone del caso, ha dichiarato durante l’udienza militare, che l’aspetto fisico dei tre accusati non corrispondeva affatto a quello delle persone che aveva visto la notte dell’omicidio del marito.

“Abituato agli arresti arbitrari, l’ANR si fa nuovamente notare per i propri metodi inaccettabili. Siamo profondamente preoccupati per le condizioni in cui è interrogato il giornalista e chiediamo alle autorità di fornire rapidamente delle spiegazioni motivanti la ragione del suo arresto. Sarebbe incomprensibile se ciò fosse unicamente dovuto alla denuncia del giornalista del deterioramento delle condizioni di vita della popolazione locale e relativo malcontento” ha dichiarato Reporters sans frontières.

Il 30 novembre, pochi minuti dopo la trasmissione “Risveglio mattutino” su Radio Ishango Kasindi, Maurice Lutendero è stato arrestato, vicino allo studio di registrazione, da due agenti dell’ANR, che lo avrebbero accusato di aver “oltraggiato e sabotato” il capo di Stato. Dopo essere stato maltrattato, verso le 14.00 è stato trasferito presso la sede dell’ANR a Beni (a 80 km), dov’è tuttora detenuto.

Interpellato da Reporters sans frontières, il direttore dell’ANR di Beni ha disconosciuto la qualifica di giornalista di Maurice Lutendero. Ha poi rifiutato di rispondere a qualsiasi domanda.

Il giornalista aveva appena dichiarato alla radio che la qualità di vita della popolazione di Kasindi non cessa di peggiorare e che la popolazione ritiene eccessive le ultime bollette emesse dalla SNEL, la società per la fornitura dell’elettricità. Secondo Journaliste en danger (JED), organizzazione che collabora con Reporters sans frontières nella Repubblica democratica del Congo, le ultime bollette della SNEL hanno provocato numerosi malcontenti persino a Kinshasa e hanno costretto il governo a chiedere alla società di sospendere le maggiorazioni per i consumatori privati.

L’ANR rimprovera al giornalista di aver “svolto una campagna contro il programma dei 5 cantieri” di Joseph Cabila. Se Maurice Lutendero è accusato di “oltraggio al capo di Stato” rischia, in base alla legge congolese, una pena fino a venti anni di prigione.

Cliccare per leggere il comunicato del JED che chiese la liberazione di Maurice Lutendero.

When he appeared before military prosecutors a few days after his arrest, Corp. Tandema, a deserter from the Congolese armed forces 3rd Joint Brigade, reportedly confessed to fatally shooting Namujimbo.

“One could joke about the escape if this were not such a serious matter,” Reporters Without Borders and Journalist in Danger said. “There is no longer any doubt that the suspects are benefitting from complicity within the military justice system, which clearly does not want to have to try those responsible for this despicable crime.”

Namujimbo’s brother Déo, the Reporters Without Borders correspondent in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said: “The authorities had been looking for this man for exactly one year and when they finally arrested him, he managed to escape within a few days. I cannot believe my ears and eyes. How do you expect me to still believe that my brother’s murders will ever be tried?”

Interviewed by Radio Okapi last week on the first anniversary of Namujimbo’s murder, communication minister and government spokesman Lambert Mendé Omalanga insisted that the investigation was being conducted properly and that justice would take its course.

“The minister’s position has been completely blown apart by this escape,” Reporters Without Borders and Journalist in Danger added.

Namujimbo was slain by a single shot to the head as he was returning home at around 9:30 p.m. on 21 November 2008 in the Ndendere neighbourhood of the Bukavu municipality of Ibanda. One year later, a dozen suspects have been arrested but other suspects have escaped and no trial has yet been held.

“After the fiasco of the trial of the alleged murderers of fellow Radio Okapi journalist Serge Maheshe, it seems incredible that history could be repeating itself,” said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard and Journalist in Danger president Donat M’Baya Tshimanga.

“The slowness of the proceedings and a blatant desire to torpedo enquiries are preventing justice from being rendered to Namujimbo and his family and are exposing all journalists to endless further violence,” they added, urging the authorities to set a date for the start of the trial. “Impunity is protecting the crime industry in Bukavu.”

“Will my brother’s murderers ever be brought to trial?” asked Déo Namujimbo, the Reporters Without Borders correspondent in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. “To be honest, I very much doubt it. Twelve people have been arrested. Why are they waiting to try them? This is like the case of Serge Maheshe, gunned down on 13 June 2007, and that of Pascal Kabungulu Kibembi, slain in front of his children on the night of 1 August 2005.”

Seventeen people are regarded as Namujimbo murder suspects by military investigators attached to the Bukavu military garrison’s court but only 12 of them are currently held in the city’s prison. The others either escaped or are on the run. One of them died. The detainees are charged with murder, criminal association and receiving stolen goods. The military court insists that Namujimbo was murdered in the course of a robbery, either to facilitate it or to ensure that it went unpunished.

The date of the trial before the Bukavu military court has repeatedly been postponed. The court at first attributed the delay to the fact that its entire staff had been assigned to supervising the distribution of pay to soldiers. Then the military judges said they had been told their priority was to try offences committed in the course of a military operation called Kimya II. The president of the military garrison court finally said “the Capt. Remy case” had to be solved first. Referred to as “T3 of the 10th military region,” Remy was murdered at the start of this year.

Responding in a letter (No. 175/AMS/SK/2009) last April to the concerns expressed by Namujimbo’s widow, Asha Mundeba, Lt. Col. Laurent Mutata Luaba, a senior Sud-Kivu military judge, declined to offer any detailed explanation on the grounds of the “legal confidentiality of this phase” of the proceedings.

Another journalist has been murdered in Bukavu since Namujimbo. It was Bruno Koko Chirambiza, the presenter of the main news programme on Radio Star, a local, privately-owned station, who was stabbed twice in the chest on 23 August 2009. His murder has not been investigated. In September, three women journalists also received death threats.

In response to a request from JED (which is the Reporters Without Borders partner in Democratic Republic of Congo), prosecutor general Flory Kabange Numbi announced a judicial enquiry. “But nothing has been communicated about this enquiry and yet again the judicial system is using the requirement of confidentiality to hide the fact that no progress had been made,” JED said.

Communication and media minister Lambert Mendé Omalanga has meanwhile said he wants to improve the safety of journalists but no measure has yet been taken.

Reporters Without Borders did an on-site investigation just a month after Namujimbo’s murder, meeting with civilian and military officials in Sud-Kivu. In a report last March entitled “Bukavu, murder city,” Reporters Without Borders condemned the fact that the military had taken charge of the investigation and urged the Congolese government to set up a special judicial commission to investigate the murders of journalists and human rights activists in Bukavu. This request has been ignored.

Download the report “Bukavu, murder city”

The journalists, Kadi Adzuba and Delphine Namuto onRadio Okapi and Jolly Kamuntu, of privately-owned Radio Maendeleo were all warned that they would get “a bullet in the head” unless they stopped “meddling in what does not concern you”.

“Given the upsurge in vicious attacks and murder of journalists in Bukavu, we consider that these threats should be taken very seriously”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said in a letter to the governor of Sud-Kivu, Louis Léonce Muderhwa Chirimwami.

The organisation called on him to provide security for the three journalists and to launch a thorough investigation to find those responsible for the messages and who ordered them.

“We are relying on you to get personally involved in this matter. It is absolutely vital that this slaughter is stopped and that it is made clear that attacks against journalists will not continue to go unpunished in Sud-Kivu, particularly in Bukavu”, the organisation added.

The three journalists all received a text this week from the number 08 13 753 026. The message in Swahili, received twice by Namuto, read: “Mulisha zoweya mubaya munaanza ingiya mu mambo haibaone ju ya kuonesha kama habawezi bagusa, sasa munataka kufa ako ju munyamanze. Tunapata rusa y kuanzia ako Kadi, kisha Kamuntu kisha Kintu Namuto risasi mu kichwa” (You have got into the bad habit of meddling in what does not concern you to show that you are untouchable, now some of you will die so that you will be shut up. We have just had authorisation to start with Kadi, then Kamuntu then Namuto: a bullet in the head”).

Adzuba also received anonymous threatening messages on 5 September. Kamuntu today made an official complaint to the Republic’s Prosecutor General in Bukavu (PGR) and also notified the military authorities in Sud-Kivu, since the threats referred to the likely use of a firearm. Her two colleagues plan to take the same steps.

“Kadi, Delphine and Jolly are three respected and hard-working journalists. We do not yet know the precise reason for the threats, but it certainly involves their work as journalists”, said one Bukavu journalist, who asked for anonymity. “Life has become impossible for us. You can no longer do your job as a reporter without being threatened.”

Reporters Without Borders’ partner organisation in Congo, Journalist in Danger, yesterday condemned the “crime industry in Bukavu” and urged the PGR to open an investigation and to demand information from the mobile phone company VODACOM. Reporters Without Borders supports this call.

Three journalists have been shot dead in Bukavu in the past two years. They were Radio Okapistaff members Serge Maheshe and Didace Namujimbo, killed respectively on 13 June 2007 and 21 November 2008, and Bruno Koko Chirambiza, presenter on privately-owned Radio Star, murdered on 23 August 2009.

In a report Reporters Without Borders released last March, “Bukavu, murder city”, in which it urged the Congolese government to set up a special judicial commission to investigate the murders of journalists in the city, the organisation also drew the local authorities attention to the recurrence of death threats sent by text.

Read Jolly Kamuntu’s interview with Le Potentiel (in French)

“We are deeply saddened by this new tragedy, which we fear could terrorise journalists in Bukavu and discourage them from working,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The impunity enjoyed by those who murder journalists in Democratic Republic of Congo and especially in Kivu is outrageous and is responsible for this latest recurrence. Those responsible must be found and brought to justice.”

Chirambiza, 24, presented a Swahili-language programme on Radio Star, a station that only reaches the Bukavu area. He was attacked by eight men and fatally stabbed twice in the chest in the early hours of yesterday in the Bukavu suburb of Kadutu, as he was returning with a friend from a wedding at which he had acted as master of ceremonies. He died after being rushed to the main Bukavu hospital.

Communication and media minister Lambert Mende said he was “appalled” by Chirambiza’s murder.

The circumstances of Chirambiza’s death suggest he was targeted. Only he was attacked and stabbed. The friend who was with him was only punched once. Chirambiza’s money, mobile phone and tape-recorder were not taken. The motive for his murder is still unclear and so far nothing suggests that he was killed in connection with his work as a journalist.

Radio Star owner Pierre Pay Pay, who is also an opposition parliamentarian, said: “We are in the process of seeing whether he recently presented programmes about the army’s ongoing operations.”

In a report last March entitled “Bukavu, murder city,” Reporters Without Borders urged the Congolese government to set up a special judicial commission to investigate the murders of journalists and human rights activists in Bukavu.

The report referred to the city as a “dangerous and unstable place where nothing goes to plan,” and added that, “the sprawling Kadutu slum is a breeding ground for hired killers that is difficult to control.”

Picture : Bukavu (RSF)

“This threat is unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It confirms that the government is determined to hound bothRFI and local media and suggests a move towards authoritarianism. The population has already been denied access to independent news and information since RFI’s local broadcasts were suspended on 26 July. Media freedom in its entirety is in danger if local radio stations are now being threatened with closure.”

The press freedom organisation added: “The National Intelligence Agency does not have the power to suspend a news media. Only a court can do that. We urge the central government in Kinshasa to put a stop to this kind of intimidation. We also reiterate our desire for RFI to be allowed to resume local broadcasting without delay.”

Kennedy Wema of Radio Télé Graben, Rochereau Kambakamba of Radio Liberté and John Tchipenda of Radio Scolaire went to the National Intelligence Agency’s local office on 12 August in response to a summons received the previous day and were told during the ensuing interview that they could be closed down if they did not stop retransmitting RFI.

In fact, according to the information available to Reporters Without Borders, the only station currently retransmitting RFI is Radio Télé Graben. Wema, its manager, told Reporters Without Borders that the station would definitely continue to broadcast RFI until it received official notification in writing.

A total of 27 local radio stations are RFI’s partners in Democratic Republic of Congo. Its local signal was suspended after it broadcast information provided by the UN Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) explaining why certain former rebel units decided to desert from the Congolese army, into which they had recently been incorporated.

See the release