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Alert

State prosecutor appeals Booto verdict

(JED/IFEX) - On 2 June 2006, the Public Prosecutor appealed the 30 May judgment by the Court of Peace of Kinshasa/Assosa, in the case against Patrice Booto, editor of the newspaper "Le Journal" and its supplement "Malebo Pool". He was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of US$500. Booto had even paid the fine required, as well as the court expenses, when the Public Prosecutor made the appeal.

Imprisoned for seven months in Kinshasa's Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre (Centre pénitentiaire et de rééducation de Kinshasa, CPRK, formerly Makala Central Prison), Booto was charged by the now defunct State Security Court and then by the Peace Tribunal of Kinshasa/Assosa and was held for "propagating false noise in public", "offending the head of state" and "insulting the government".

On 30 May, the Peace Tribunal only found him guilty of "offending the head of state" and "insulting the government" and consequently sentenced him to six months in prison and fine of US$500. Since the journalist had already spent over six months in prison, he was freed on the condition that he paid the fine.
The state prosecutor contested the tribunal's decision, arguing that it vindicated the journalist for the violation of "propagating false noise in public". Following this action, the case will now go to appeal. The case will be heard again before the District Court Tribunal of Kinshasa/Kalamu. Until then, Booto remains in prison.

In September 2005, the journalist published information, that he has himself admitted to be false, accusing President Joseph Kabila of having transferred US$30 million to the teaching sector in Tanzania during a time at which teachers were on strike in the DRC to demand better working conditions.