Special police ransack privately-owned TV station, arrest two employees
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 15 September 2008 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Special police ransack privately-owned TV station, arrest two employees, 15 September 2008, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/48cf5d06e.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Reporters Without Borders is astounded by a police raid on Kinshasa-based Global TV in the early hours of 12 September and calls for the release of the two employees - studio manager Daudet Lukombo and an unidentified security guard - who were arrested during the operation and who have since been held incommunicado at special police services headquarters, known as Kin-Mazière.
According to Journalist in Danger (JED), the Reporters Without Borders partner organisation in Democratic Republic of Congo, the raid on the privately-owned TV station was prompted by the broadcasting of an opposition parliamentarian's news conference the previous day. Global TV has not been broadcasting since the operation.
"Until otherwise proven, the Congolese police special services are not authorised to break the law," Reporters Without Borders said. "This punitive raid on Global TV was illegal. The government must not only release the two imprisoned employees but must also allow the station to resume broadcasting and must explain this disturbing incident."
JED said the police special services ransacked Global TV's studios during the raid, which began at about 1 a.m., dismantling and removing broadcast equipment. The offending news conference the previous day was given by opposition legislator Né Muanda Sémi, the head of the controversial Bundu Dia Kongo movement, who blamed the government for the current clashes between government troops and Laurent Nkunda's rebels in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu.