Prominent journalist Stanis Bujakera has been released from the notorious Makala prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, despite authorities attempting to block his release.
Bujakera had already served a six-month sentence for spreading false information, which he spent in pre-trial detention.State prosecutors appealed the sentence, arguing it was too lenient, and requested a 20-year jail term for Bujakera. However, after a delay, he was eventually released from custody.
Bujakera’s arrest and sentencing were widely condemned by rights groups as an attack on press freedom. He was accused of writing an article in Jeune Afrique magazine alleging the military’s involvement in the killing of opposition politician Cherubin Okende. Okende, a former minister and spokesman for the opposition party Ensemble Pour la Republique, disappeared in July last year, and his body was later found with bullet wounds in his car in Kinshasa.
Source: BBC NEWS