H.E. Joseph Kabila
President
Office of the President
Palais de la Nation
Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of Congo
Your Excellency:
The Overseas Press Club of America, a New York-based organization which has defended the rights of journalists around the globe for nearly seventy years, writes to call your attention to a recent violation of freedom of the press in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As you may be aware, an independent journalist named Bienvenu Yay, who is the Mbandaka correspondent for the Kinshasa-based private television station Congoweb TV, was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay a fine of US $2,500 in damages for supposedly slandering José Makila, the deposed governor of Équateur province. Mr. Yay was not present at the first court proceedings. Subsequently, he appeared in court with his lawyers, and he was found guilty. We understand that Yay has now filed an appeal.
The government’s charge against Yay concerned a broadcast January 21, 2009, about the house arrest of Makila following an investigation into the misappropriation of 85 million Congolese francs (approximately $120,000 US dollars) intended for teachers’ salaries. Makila claimed that he had never been placed under house arrest, and that the charges in the broadcast were in accurate.
In our view, Mr. Yay was doing his job as an independent journalist. He should not be jailed or fined for reporting news that concerns your citizens.
The members of the Overseas Press Club of America urge that your government take steps to make sure that an independent journalist in your country is allowed to remain independent, in accordance with the democratic principles that are important in your country’s founding charter.
Respectfully yours,
George Bookman
Norman A. Schorr
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
H.E. Faida Maramuke Mitifu
Ambassador of the D.R. of Congo to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo
1800 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Fax: (202) 234.2609
Ambassador Atoki Christian Ileka
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 511
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 319.8232
H.E. William Garvelink
U. S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo
Embassy of the United States of America
310 Avenue des Aviateurs
Comune de la Gombe
Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of Congo