Kinshasa, April 22, 2024— Ahead of a court decision expected on Saturday in the prosecution of radio journalist Blaise Mabala, the Committee to Protect Journalist is alarmed that prosecutors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have asked that he be sentenced to 15 months in prison and urges authorities to stop criminalizing the work of the press.
“Having spent more than 100 days in detention, journalist Blaise Mabala has already suffered a grave injustice, and the prospect that he could be convicted and spend more time behind bars is simply devastating,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Mabala’s detention is another stain on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s already tainted press freedom record. DRC media cannot work freely unless authorities put an end to the pattern of throwing critical journalists behind bars and reform laws that criminalize journalism.”
Mabala, coordinator of the privately owned Même Morale FM, was arrested on October 20, 2023, and accused of insulting Rita Bola, governor of the western province of Maï-Ndombe, in a radio program. According to CPJ’s review, the program included a song criticizing Bola, as well as critical comments from listeners who phoned in and from Maï-Ndombe’s vice-governor Jacks Bombaka, Même Morale FM’s owner.
Mabala was released on bail on November 7 and re-arrested on December 29 on the same charges.
During an April 17 hearing at Makala central prison in Kinshasa, the capital, the prosecutor requested a sentence of one year and three months, Mabala’s lawyer, Christian Mwamba, told CPJ via messaging app, adding that his client was not guilty.
During that hearing, the prosecution played the song criticizing Bola but was unable to present further audio evidence as the two USB drives containing recordings of Mabala’s show did not work, according to Mwamba and a statement by the local press freedom organization Observatory for Press Freedom in Africa.