Democratic Republic of the Congo

New York, July 15, 2016 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arbitrary detention of two radio journalists in the Ituri district of Oriental Province in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and calls on Congolese officials to release them both immediately.

"When I cried, he slapped me hard and put his hand over my mouth." That is how a 12-year-old girl in the Central African Republic described an episode in which a man found her hiding in the bathroom of her home in the wee hours of August 2, 2015, dragged her outside, and raped her, hidden from view behind a truck.

Landmark conviction in 2000 attack on Colombian journalist

A Colombian court on February 26 convicted a former paramilitary fighter in the kidnapping and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. The fighter, Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco, was also ordered to pay a fine of around US$17,500.

New York, February 23, 2016--A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday convicted a suspect of murdering journalist Soleil Balanga in April 2015, in Équateur province, according to a press release issued today by Journaliste en Danger, a Congolese press freedom organization. The High Court of Boende found Moussa Tendenle guilty of having slit the journalist's throat and sentenced him to death.

New York, February 5, 2016--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision by the Democratic Republic of Congo's government to close two privately owned news channels, and urges officials to allow the channels to resume broadcasting immediately.

New York, December 31, 2015­--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo not to extradite Egide Mwemero, an exiled Burundian radio journalist who has been in custody since October 13, according to reports. Bob Rugurika, director of independent Burundian station Radio Publique Africaine where Mwemero also worked, told CPJ he fears Mwemero will be killed if he is sent back to Burundi. Burundian authorities this month requested the extradition of at least four other journalists who fled into exile, according to news reports.

Egypt is second only to China as the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2015. Worldwide, the number of journalists behind bars for their work declined moderately during the year, but a handful of countries continue to use systematic imprisonment to silence criticism. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

Francine Bishti, a reporter for the privately owned station Radio Télévision par Satellite 1 was attacked on November 16, 2015 while covering student protests in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to reports. Bishti was filming a group of about 16 students, who were protesting an increase in academic fees, when she was attacked by a group who started hitting and kicking her, news reports said.

New York, October 19, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of Egide Mwemero, a Burundian journalist who, according to the managing director of his radio station and local reports, was arrested in Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on October 13.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo said on September 3, 2015, that it had banned the screening of a documentary about rape and a doctor who treats rape victims.