The Non-Governmental Organisation Journaliste En Danger (JED) denounces and condemns the detention of Christophe Yoka Nkumu, a journalist with Radio Liberté Bikoro, a station broadcasting in Bikoro, a territory located 128 kilometres from Mbandaka, capital of Equateur province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Christophe Yoka Nkumu is being held at the public prosecutor’s office in Mbandaka following a complaint by provincial deputy Djimy Nkumu for damaging accusations. He was arrested Monday, February 22, 2021 by agents of the public prosecutor’s office who had a warrant to bring him in.
The journalist Yoka Nkumu is being prosecuted for having denounced, on 16 January 2021, the hijacking by the provincial governor of Equateur Dieudonné Bobo Boloko of a jeep from the Bikoro health zone and its purchase by Djimy Nkumu, provincial deputy of Equateur.
The NGO JED demands the immediate and unconditional release of Christophe Yoka Nkumu, and asks the Mbandaka public prosecutor’s office to drop the charges against him.
Hugues Mpaka Mutwefa Breloc
