A Kinshasa court has sentenced three journalists and six employees of state television in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to a year in jail for defamation and calumny, a rights group reported on Wednesday.
The nine are all trade union activists who were sentenced on Monday on conviction for libel and the ”calumnious denunciation” of former communications and press minister Kikaya bin Karubi, Journalists in Danger (JED) said.
Each was also ordered to pay damages of $2 500 (1 970 euros) to Kikaya, said JED, a non-governmental organisation that works for media freedom and rights.
The journalists and employees of Congolese National Radio-Television (RNTC) sent a memorandum in February 2003 to President Joseph Kabila in which they alleged that Kikaya had stolen two radio-TV transmitter units and embezzled funds from the broadcaster.
They were not in the courtroom when they were sentenced, JED reported, without elaborating on their whereabouts.
Kikaya had sued the nine for signing the memorandum to Kabila, in which they urged the head of state to sack him.
The vast DRC has since June last year had a new interim government including members of rebel groups which fought a devastating four-year war against Kabila before a succession of peace pacts put an end to the conflict in April 2003. – Sapa-AFP