KINSHASA: A renowned DR Congo journalist who was due to be released from jail on Tuesday will remain in prison pending an appeal of his conviction, said his lawyer.
Stanis Bujakera, 33, on Monday was awarded six months in prison for allegedly dragging the country’s military intelligence in the killing of an opposition politician Cherubin Okende in an article.
The story was published in the Jeune Afrique magazine and based on an alleged confidential memo from another e intelligence agency. Congolese authorities have termed the memo as fake.
A Kinshasa court found Bujakera guilty on charges of spreading false rumours and forgery while awarding him six-month sentence along with a fine of one million Congolese francs ($400). Prosecutors had sought 20 years of jail for Bujakera.
As Bujakera had already spent six months in detention, he was due to be freed on Tuesday after his employer paid the fine and all court expenses.
Patient Ligodi, head of the Actualite.cd online newspaper where the jailed journalist is a deputy publisher said the order from the court for Stanis to be released came down around 1800 (1700 GMT), along with an appeal by the public ministry.
His lawyer Charles Mushizi added that Bujakera will remain in prison during the appeal by the ministry.
Bujakera was arrested after a Jeune Afrique article was published in August 2023, saying that Congolese military intelligence had assassinated Okende the month before.
Former cabinet member and spokesman for the opposition party Ensemble Pour la Republique, disappeared on July 12 last year. His bullet-riddled body was discovered n his car in Kinshasa the following day.
