drc: outrage at five-year sentence for journalist

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exactly as received**

To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), [email protected]

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA Phone: (212) 465-1004
Fax: (212) 465-9568 Web: www.cpj.org E-Mail: [email protected]

July 21, 2003

His Excellency Joseph Kabila
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Ngaliema, Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of Congo

Via facsimile: 011-234-88-02120 / 1-202-234-2609

Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged at the five-year
sentence given to Donatien Nyembo Kimuni, Lubumbashi correspondent for the
Kinshasa-based private weekly La Tribune, on a charge of defamation. The
charge stemmed from a June 5 La Tribune article by Kimuni titled, "Congo
Mineral: Workers Are Paid Poorly and Exploited." According to journalists at
La Tribune, Kimuni had based his article on a report from a public mining
firm and the testimony of local miners who alleged that Congo Mineral, a
private mining company, provided poor working conditions for its employees.

Congo Mineral sent La Tribune a response to Kimuni's article, which the
paper published in a subsequent edition. However, the company also filed a
defamation charge against the journalist.

On July 11, a court in Likasi, a town located 120 km (74 miles) from
Lubumbashi in the southern Katanga Province, convicted Kimuni in absentia,
sentenced him to five years in prison, and ordered his immediate arrest.

Kimuni told the Congolese press freedom group Journaliste En Danger that he
and his lawyers, who live in Lubumbashi, were unable to attend the court
hearing because the road to Likasi was blocked after soldiers had clashed
with students early in the day on the University of Lubumbashi campus.
Kimuni is currently in hiding.

As an organization of journalists dedicated to defending the rights of our
colleagues worldwide, we condemn Kimuni's conviction and sentence-the most
severe any journalist has received since Your Excellency has been in office.
Journalists should never be imprisoned for reporting on matters of public
concern, as was Kimuni. There is a growing consensus among the international
community that civil remedies provide adequate redress for press offenses.

We therefore call on you to do everything within your power to ensure that
the sentence against Kimuni is revoked. We also urge your government to work
toward decriminalizing all press offenses in the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
We thank you for your attention in this urgent matter. We await your reply.

Sincerely,

Ann Cooper
Executive Director

CC:
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Freedom Forum
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
International Center for Journalists
International Federation of Journalists
International PEN
International Press Institute
Lorne W. Craner, United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor
The Newspaper Guild
The North American Broadcasters Association
Overseas Press Club
Reporters Sans Frontières
Sergio Vieira de Mello, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Society of Professional Journalists
World Association of Newspapers
World Press Freedom Committee

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of CPJ**