Belgian director Thierry Michel is being prosecuted for “ plagiarism and counterfeiting by Congolese justice. The author of the film The Empire of Silence denounced a gag lawsuit, brought by the Balufu brothers against him and his producer. On our antenna, Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda claims for his part a copy of the film in order to make comparisons.
The Balufu brothers, two Congolese filmmakers, accuse Thierry Michel and his producer Christine Pireaux of having plagiarized their production Congo, the silence of forgotten crimesreleased in 2015. In The Empire of Silencewhich denounces the impunity of the most serious crimes hitting the Congo for several years, the two filmmakers say they have spotted 80 plagiarized passages.
According to Thierry Michel’s team, several Congolese and Belgian experts have concluded that there is no counterfeit. Thierry Michel therefore denounces the political motivations behind this trial, but Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda denies:
We don’t play politics, it’s a case of suspicion of plagiarism and counterfeiting. Mr. Thierry Michel showed his film in Kinshasa, he was never bothered and he has scheduled screenings tomorrow or the day after. In Kinshasa, his film is not banned, he is not worried.
What the Balufu brothers are asking for is that a copy of The Empire of Silence be made available to the courts for comparison sessions. They deny being aware of the comparisons made by Congolese and Belgian experts, as specified by Thierry Michel’s team.
Who are these experts? What are their names ? We wrote to the Scam, we wrote to the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD), they never made a comparison, and the Scam spoke of a specialist lawyer whose identity we do not know.
Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda wonders why Thierry Michel, if there is no counterfeit, does not give the copy of his film: ” I don’t see where the problem is, it takes us out of unknown experts, what are their names ? The story of the gag trial or justice in the Congo is a fallacious subject that they brought up after the complaint. »
With this lawsuit brought against them in the DRC, Thierry Michel and Christine Pireaux risk immediate arrest for a period of up to five years in prison.
►To read: DRC: the directors of “The Empire of Silence” denounce a “gag” trial