Journalist in Danger (JED) demands the immediate and unconditional release of the journalist who has been detained for four days in Mbandaka, the capital town of the Equateur province. He was accused of “harmful report” following a complaint lodged against him by a provincial parliamentarian.
According to our sources, Christophe Yoka Nkumu, a journalist with Radio Liberté Bikoro, a station broadcasting in Bikoro, a territory located 128 km from Mbandaka, capital of Equateur province (north-western DR Congo), was arrested on 22 February 2021 by some elements of the public prosecutor’s office, upon a warrant.
The journalist was taken to the Bikoro police station where he was detained overnight before being transferred the next day to Mbandaka where he is being held in the prosecutor’s cell.
On January 16, 2021, Yoka Nkumu was prosecuted for having denounced the provincial governor. The journalist alleged that the governor has hijacked a jeep from the Bikoro health zone and its purchase by Mr. Djimy Nkumu, a provincial parliamentarian of Ecuador.
Journalist in Danger (JED) is calling on the head of the Mbandaka public prosecutor’s office to order the immediate release of the journalist and drop all charges against him.
