Media watchdog calls for immediate release of DRC journalists

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The media freedom body, Committee to Protect Journalists, (CPJ) has called for the immediate release of two journalists in DR Congo.

CPJ, in a communique received by PANA on Saturday, said police arrested Sébastien Mulamba, an editor with the private monthly Kisangani News, and Mbuyi Mukadi, the paper's managing editor, in a restaurant in Kisangani, the capital of Oriental Province.

"Authorities in the DRC must immediately release the two journalists who have been detained without charge since Wednesday over their story criticizing a government official,"  the press freedom body said.

"We condemn the unjustified detention of Sébastien Mulamba and Mbuyi Mukadi, an act of intimidation that should be halted immediately," said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita.

"Authorities should not be doing the personal bidding of an assemblyman who doesn't like unflattering news coverage," Keita added.
-0- PANA MLJ/MA 12May2012