November 29, 2006
Original Alert: November 28, 2006
Clément Nku, Canal Congo Télévision
IMPRISONED
Nku, a cameraman of the private station owned by former presidential contender Jean-Pierre Bemba, was released by police after eight days in detention without charge, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and CCTV director Blondel Bokoko.
Four plain-clothes police officers arrested Nku and seized his camera after he covered a peaceful demonstration by civil servants in the capital Kinshasa. Police first accused him of carrying a weapon, which he denied, and then subjected him to questioning, according to JED and Bokoko. They wanted to know who had filmed footage broadcast by CCTV showing police officers abandoning their uniforms and equipment to flee angry demonstrators outside the Supreme Court in Kinshasa on November 21.