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‘L’Avenir’ newspaper director freed

    NAIROBI

    The media watchdog, Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), announced on Friday the release of Joachim Diana Gikupa, director of the daily newspaper ‘L’Avenir’, in Kinshasa following a week’s detention by the Agence nationale de renseignements (ANR), the national intelligence agency of the DRC. He told RSF that he was held in deplorable conditions. “The two first days, I was in a tiny cell with two small holes for ventilation. There was just a foam mattress on the ground and I was not allowed to use the toilet. Afterwards, I was transferred to another cell that was slightly better,” he said. The ANR cells had been officially closed by authorities earlier this year by order of President Joseph Kabila. A lawyer for Gikupa is scheduled to meet with authorities regarding events that transpired. Gikupa was arrested on 14 June by ANR agents for refusing to reveal the identity of a source.

    RSF noted that Freddy Loseke Lisumbu, the director of ‘La Libre Afrique’ newspaper arrested on 30 May on charges of libel, is still held by the government.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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