The lawyers of journalist Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, detained for over five months in Kinshasa, filed a new request for release on Friday. Questioned Thursday evening at a press conference about the journalist’s detention, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said the accused is “perhaps a victim” of a “sick” justice system.
Tshisekedi denounced “procrastination” in the case and said he had decided to “get involved.” The president added he would take “the necessary decision,” giving hope for an imminent release.
“Progress is being made”
Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, a correspondent in the DRC for our sister paper Jeune Afrique, is being tried for an unsigned article implicating military intelligence in the murder of former minister Cherubin Okende last July. His trial began in October, and a new hearing was held on February 23 in the courtyard of Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, where Stanis is being held.
“Progress is being made,” declared Master Jean-Marie Kabengela, one of Stanis’ lawyers, after Friday’s hearing.
The president has “pounded the table” to get “temporary release granted to our client,” he added. Since his September 8 arrest, calls for Stanis’ release have multiplied, but all his requests for temporary release have so far been rejected.
48 hours
The trial has been postponed until March 8, but the court has only 48 hours to rule on the release request filed by the journalist’s lawyers on Friday afternoon.
Stanis, also a Reuters correspondent and deputy director of Congolese online media Actualite.cd, is accused of “manufacturing and distributing” an intelligence note incriminating military intelligence in the assassination of Cherubin Okende, a former minister turned opposition figure found dead in his car with gunshot wounds on July 13.
For several weeks, the trial has stalled, revolving around issues of expert analysis and counter-analysis of documents and signatures.
With AFP
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