Paul Mupanza Kasongo, a reporter with the privately owned YouTube channel Radiotélévision Buisson Ardent (RTBA), has been detained in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since November 1, 2024, on charges of defamation and spreading false rumors.
Mupanza has been accused of spreading false rumors and damaging accusations against local politician Laurent Batumona and Batumona’s wife, Frida Munshy, during one of RTBA’s broadcasts, according to his lawyer Moussa Mpimpi, who spoke with CPJ.
During an April 2024 broadcast of an RTBA program that he hosts called, "Who Is Telling the Truth," the episode of which has since been taken offline, Mupanza accused Batumona and Munshy, as well as two other local political figures, of being financially involved in the killing of several customary chiefs by the Mobondo militia in order to appropriate lands in the Bateke Plateau, in the DRC’s Kwango province, and in the territory of Kwamouth, in the Maï-Ndombe province, according to Moussa.
Mupanza faces prosecution under Articles 74 and 76 of the DRC’s penal code, which relate to defamation, and five years in prison under Article 124 for spreading false rumors, but under the Congolese legal system he would only serve the sentence for the single charge with the highest maximum penalty.
Moussa told CPJ that on November 25, the Kinshasa/Matete Peace Court opened its investigation of the complaint filed by Batumona and Munshy, and that Mupanza did not appear at that hearing. Batumona and Munshy subsequently submitted a request to the court for the journalist to appear, Moussa said.
Mupanza is being detained at the prosecutor's office at the Kinshasa/Matete High Court. in the DRC’s capital, according to Moussa.
CPJ’s calls to Batumona went unanswered. Under the Congolese legal system, prosecutors and other members of the court are not permitted to speak on a case while it is under investigation.