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Priests held in connection with coup are released

    NAIROBI

    Two priests held in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui, in connection with the failed coup of 28 May have been released, news agencies reported on Thursday.

    The Roman Catholic news agency, MISNA, reported on Thursday that the Rev Tolino Falagoista, a 62 year-old Combonian missionary, from Correzzola, Italy, was in good health. Falagoista, director of Radio Notre Dame in Bangui and correspondent of MISNA, was released on Tuesday on condition that he not leave Bangui, AFP reported. He was arrested in mid-October, accused of writing a story in June regarding mass executions of Yakomas which also referred to the existence of three mass graves and warned that the CAR was heading towards extermination and genocide. Falagoista denied the charges and was released pending further investigation of his case.

    The Rev Julien Koyenguia of the Berberati diocese was released last week, AFP reported, by the committee set up to investigate the thwarted putsch. He was arrested on 2 Sept., accused of preaching violence and tribal hatred in his sermons and of sheltering some of those behind the attempted putsch. Koyenguia is a Yakoma, the ethnic group of failed coup mastermind and former CAR president Andre Kolingba.

    The failed coup and subsequent 10 days of fighting claimed 59 lives, according to an official toll - though many more according to witnesses. Forces loyal to CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse managed to repel the offensive, with military support from Libya and the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo, the armed resistance movement of businessman Jean-Pierre Bemba in northwestern DRC.

    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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