Investigative journalist Gauthier Sey Tshiang was evacuated to France on Monday for medical treatment after being assaulted and left unconscious in a street — one of a series of attacks on the press in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent weeks. Another journalist has been missing for a month and two are behind bars.
“This is an extremely worrying situation and represents an unacceptable price paid by media professionals in a country that ought to guarantee a free and independent press,” the press freedom group Rassemblement des Journalistes pour l’Émergence du Congo (RAJEC) said in a statement on Tuesday, calling on authorities to take urgent action to safeguard journalists.
Sey, director of the online outlet Netic News TV, told CPJ that four men in plainclothes blocked his path and showed him a warrant for his arrest as he was heading to the bank in the capital Kinshasa on October 3. Sey said they sprayed a substance on his nose and knees that caused him to lose consciousness.
Hours later, a passerby found him by a roadside, covered in blood, with torn clothes, and no shoes, and took him to a hospital.
‘I was struck in the ribs’
From the French capital Paris, Sey told CPJ: “I was struck in the ribs before being put into their vehicle. I am currently suffering from that and from breathing difficulties caused by the substance they sprayed on me.”
In the preceding days, Sey told CPJ, he had received several anonymous threatening calls ordering him to stop criticizing the Congolese music star Fally Ipupa and his lawyer, Dorothée Madiya. The musician has initiated legal proceedings against Collette Tuzaa, who alleged on social media in August that the two had an affair, as well as against those who shared Tuzaa’s posts and organized livestreams with her.
Journalist Virginie Manganga, who was arrested on September 20 and charged with defamation and spreading false information for interviewing Tuzaa, went on trial on September 30 in Kinshasa’s Makala Central Prison.
In the two days before he was attacked, on October 2 and 1, Sey criticized Madiya over her comments about Manganga. He also called on Ipupa to withdraw his complaint against Manganga to avoid an embarrassing trial.
Madiya held a news conference on September 30, in which she said the legal proceedings were targeting Manganga as a TikToker, rather than a journalist. On October 2, Manganga filed a complaint with the head of the Kinshasa/Gombe Bar Association about Madiya, saying her comments were unethical and denigrating.
Also in Kinshasa, Danny Nguba, a journalist with Educ TV, has been missing since leaving home on September 4. Nguba’s uncle Chatain Ngoyi told CPJ that the family had been unable to confirm whether the journalist had been taken into government detention. CPJ was unable to determine whether Nguba’s disappearance was related to his work as a journalist.
In a third case, on September 29, Espoir Botumba, director of the online outlet Opulence.cd, was arrested at his Kinshasa home by judicial police officers from the Kinshasa/Matete public prosecutor’s office, the journalist told CPJ.
Botumba told CPJ that the officers had an arrest warrant, which they said related to his sharing, in WhatsApp groups, allegations published by the online outlet DosEco that a former minister had wasted state funds. Botumba said he was freed the next day, after paying $500 bail and the case was closed.
Risks of reporting in the east
In eastern DRC, Burundian journalist Niyukuri Samuel Gaylord was taken into military detention on October 5 after publishing a story about being assaulted by government soldiers on September 23, according to his outlet’s director Emmanuel Ntirampeba, and another person with knowledge of the case, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals. Both spoke to CPJ by phone.
Niyukuri lives in eastern DRC’s Lusenda refugee camp and works for ONGEA-YAGA, which reports on Burundian refugees in the country.
In the September 23 incident, the soldiers accused Niyukuri of collaborating with the AFC/M23 rebel alliance, which controls swathes of eastern DRC. The soldiers cited Niyukuri’s September 22 report about a visit to the camp by United Nations agencies.
Niyukuri told CPJ that the soldiers beat him with the butts of their guns, bruising his back and ribs, and he received treatment for his injuries at a local hospital. Three other camp residents confirmed Niyakuri’s account to CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.
On September 24 and 25, ONGEA-YAGA’s Ntirampeba, who is also a Burundian refugee, was summoned by local army and militia commanders over his authorization of a broadcast that they said tarnished the image of government troops, Ntirampeba and Niyukuri told CPJ. On both occasions, Ntirampeba was questioned about the broadcast, then allowed to leave, they said.
Ntirampeba told CPJ that a soldier also threatened to arrest him on October 5 if he reported on an education story in the camp.
Kinshasa’s national police commander Israël Kantu Bakulu did not respond to CPJ’s October 6 calls requesting comment and the phone of interim army spokesperson Lt. Col. Mak Hazukay was switched off. CPJ was unable to find contact information for Madiya by the time of publication.