DR Congo: No Retreat, No Surrender For Released journalist Stanis Bujakera

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman

After spending six months in Makala central prison in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Stanis Bujakera, deputy editor of the online newspaper www.actualite.cd and correspondent for Jeune Afrique and Reuters, has finally regained his freedom. He was released on the night of Tuesday March 19 to Wednesday March 20, 2024.

Already on Wednesday, he returned to his usual editorial office, where he was welcomed with great fanfare by his colleagues. Shouts of joy and the joviality of a reunion! 

Bujakera was arrested on September 08, 2023, tried and sentenced on Monday to six months in prison, a sentence already served under preventive detention. He was also fined one million Congolese francs (US400).

Stanis Bujakera was accused, among other things, of having produced a "false report" incriminating military intelligence in the death of Chérubin Okende, an opponent found dead in his car in July 2023 on the stretch of road known as "Poids lourds".

Since October of the same year, he had been on trial for an unsigned article.

"I don't belong in prison, I belong in the editorial office. I want to continue my work of informing. I'm happy to be back with my editorial team..." he declared.

The young journalist praised the mobilization around his case. He thanked the media he works for, as well as all the organizations that defend journalists' rights, for supporting him and denouncing his arrest, which he described as arbitrary.

He promised to continue his work as a freelance journalist.

"We're here standing up to continue doing what we know how to do: give information to the population," he hammered.