MARCH 27, 2007
Posted April 27, 2007
Minyanya Wasso, Radio Liberté
HARASSED
Five armed police officers stormed the studios of private Radio Liberté in the far eastern Sud Kivu province, arresting a journalist airing a live program and causing the station to go off the air for 30 minutes, Director Philemon Kangeta told CPJ.
The move was linked to a statement by Wasso, host of a weekly civic education program, about an alleged provision of the national constitution protecting individuals from being subjected to mandatory or forced labor, according to private daily Le Potentiel and the press freedom group Journaliste En Danger. The comment was in response to an official announcement summoning the public to mandatory community development projects, according to the same sources.
Wasso was accused of incitement to sedition and contempt to authority. He was released from detention two days later after protests from the local press and DRC’s High Authority on Media, according to Kantega.