Police Shoot at Journalist in CAR: RSF calls for Exemplary Sanctions

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling on the Central African authorities not to allow the assault on a journalist by a member of the security forces on the sidelines of the national holiday in western Central African Republic (CAR) to go unpunished.

Bruno Makilo , journalist for Radio Maigaro , one of the two stations in Bouar in western CAR, did not attend the end of the wreath laying ceremony in front of the war memorial on Saturday 30 November, the day before the National Day. At the the day before the National Day. At the end of the afternoon, the reporter asked a group of men not to make noise during the broadcasting of the national anthem. An altercation broke out. A police officer on duty, in charge of the security of the ceremony, fires twice in the air before opening fire on the journalist’s leg according to several witnesses interviewed by RSF and the medical certificate consulted by our organization. 

The policeman was arrested but has still not been charged according to the journalist’s lawyer. 

Joined by RSF, the Minister of Communication, Media and government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui simply said “to stay informed” of this situation.

“Opening fire on a journalist in the exercise of his functions is a serious act which cannot go unpunished,” said Arnaud Froger, head of the RSF Africa office. We ask the authorities to ensure that this police officer is duly punished and tried for the acts he committed While impunity often prevails for crimes against journalists, the CAR authorities this time have no reason not to take appropriate disciplinary and judicial measures. ”

In a press release, the Central African community media network (RMCC) condemned an act “vile and unworthy on the part of those who are supposed to protect the population”. Several journalists’ organizations, including the RMCC, have taken legal action.

The practice of journalism remains perilous in CAR. On July 30, 2018, Orhan Djemal , Kirill Radtchenko and Alexandre Rasstorgouïev , three Russian journalists who were investigating the presence of mercenaries from their country in the Central African Republic were murdered. Faced with the gray areas surrounding this triple assassination, RSF continues to demand the opening of an independent international investigation.

RSF also requests the Central African authorities, France and the mission of the United Nations in the Central African Republic (Minusca) to do everything possible so that a reconstruction of the facts and a neighborhood investigation can take place in the Bouar region where French photoreporter Camille Lepage was shot dead over 5 years ago.

CAR lost 33 places and is now in 145th position in the World Press Freedom Index established by RSF in 2019.

Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders, CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org

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