For Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a note attributed to the Congolese National Intelligence Agency (ANR) concerning the assassination of the opponent Chérubin Okende is “ perfectly authentic ” even if ” This does not mean that its content is true “. RSF investigated this document because, following an unsigned article in the magazine Young Africa (JA) based on this note, the correspondent of Jeune Afrique in the DRC, Stanis Bujakera, was arrested and is now on trial. A text which local authorities assured was a fake.
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In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the trial of journalist Stanis Bujakera is due to resume on November 3, 2023. The correspondent of Young Africa (JA), of Reuters and deputy publication director of actualite.cd, arrested on September 8, is accused of “ forgery, falsification of state seals “, ” spreading false rumors “, And ” transmission of erroneous and illegal messages » after the publication of an article in JA.
The incriminated paper, released at the end of August, was based on a confidential note presented as coming from the civil intelligence services (ANR), implicating military intelligence in the assassination in mid-July of the former minister and opponent Chérubin Okende.
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A note which the Congolese authorities later assured was a fake. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) investigated this note during a recent mission to Kinshasa and, for the press defense organization, there is no doubt: this note is authentic and, above all, it was circulating long before its revelation by Young Africa.
“ It wasn’t Stanis Bujakera who received it first »
Arnaud Froger, head of RSF’s investigations office, explains about Stanis Bujakera: “ It can’t be him for at least two reasons: first, he wasn’t the one who received it first. That’s been established and it was enough to carry out an investigation, which only took us a few days on site to find that he was not even the first to have received the document. It is a document which has, moreover, circulated widely in the diplomatic community, among security officials, then among certain journalists and certain local media. The second element that our investigation reveals is that this document is perfectly authentic, in the sense that it comes from the ANR, the Congolese National Intelligence Agency. There is absolutely no doubt about that, there are several sources who have confirmed it to us, including internal sources at the ANR. »
Arnaud Froger continues: “ Now, that doesn’t mean its content is truthful. Nor does it mean that its content reflects the final position of the Agency. But, in any case, it does come from the ANR, it is authentic in that, and the investigation proves beyond doubt that Stanis Bujakera is neither the author nor the disseminator of this note which comes from the Congolese intelligence services. »
RSF calls for the release of Stanis Bujakera, but also for an end to the charges against him. At the same time, 14 citizen movements, including Lucha and Filimbi, also demand the release of the journalist as well as other political prisoners, in a joint press release published this Thursday, November 2.
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