LONDON - On the sixth month anniversary of the detention on trumped charges of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) journalist Stanis Bujakera, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Sarah Jackson, said:

“The release of Stanis Bujakera is well overdue. His continued arbitrary detention is tantamount to judicial harassment, intended to send a chilling message to other journalists and all free voices in the DRC. This travesty must end. DRC authorities must immediately release Stanis Bujakera.

“President Tshisekedi and his government must ensure the release of Stanis Bujakera and media freedom, as well as uphold the country’s international human rights obligations and address the flaws of the judicial system that lead to such injustices too often.”

Background

Journalist Stanis Bujakera was arrested on 8 September 2023.

A prominent reporter working for Reuters, Jeune Afrique and the Congolese online media Actualité.CD, Stanis Bujakera was charged with spreading false information after Jeune Afrique published an article allegedly implicating the Congolese intelligence services in the killing of the opposition politician Chérubin Okende in July 2023. Authorities last week concluded that Okende died by suicide and threatened to prosecute anyone who would question this conclusion.

On 27 February, a court in Kinshasa rejected Bujakera’s application for provisional release for the seventh time. He is due to appear in court again this Friday.

On 22 February, President Felix Tshisekedi stated that Bujakera was "perhaps a victim of the procrastination" of a “sick” judicial system and pledged to "at least for once stick [his] nose” into the case and “decide as appropriate”.