Paul Mupanza Kasongo, a reporter with the privately owned YouTube channel Radiotélévision Buisson Ardent (RTBA), was detained in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, on November 1, 2024, on charges of defamation and spreading false rumors.
The charges stemmed from a complaint filed by local politician Laurent Batumona and his wife, Frida Munshy, over an RTBA broadcast that Kasongo hosted, his lawyer Moussa Mpimpi told CPJ.
During an April 2024 episode of "Who Is Telling the Truth," which has since been taken offline, Mupanza accused Batumona, Munshy, and two other local political figures of financial involvement in the killing of several customary chiefs by the Mobondo militia to appropriate lands in the Bateke Plateau, which extends from Kinshasa into the neighboring Kwango province, and in Maï-Ndombe province’s Kwamouth territory, northeast of Kinshasa, according to Moussa.
Mupanza faced prosecution under Articles 74 and 76 of the DRC’s penal code, relating to defamation, with penalties of up to one year and five years in prison, and up to five years in prison under Article 124 for spreading false rumors.
On November 25, 2024, the Kinshasa/Matete Peace Court opened its investigation but Mupanza, who was detained in the court’s prosecutor’s office, did not appear, Moussa said, adding that Batumona and Munshy requested the court to bring him in, which was done at a subsequent appearance.
On February 2, 2025, the court sentenced Mupanza to 12 months in prison and 800,000 francs (US$285) fine, according to local press freedom organization L'Observatoire de la Liberté de la Presse en Afrique (OLPA) and journalist Charles Luwa, who spoke with CPJ.
Mupanza told CPJ he was released on October 31, 2025, after 12 months’ detention, and paid a fine of 1 million francs (US$450), which included additional fees associated with his release.
CPJ’s calls to Batumona in 2024 went unanswered. Under the Congolese legal system, members of the court are not permitted to speak about an ongoing case.