Investigative journalist Gauthier Sey Tshiang was
evacuated
to France on Monday for medical treatment after being assaulted and left unconscious in a street — one of a series of attacks on the press in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent weeks. Another journalist has been missing for a month and two are behind bars.
“This is an extremely worrying situation and represents an unacceptable price paid by media professionals in a country that ought to guarantee a free and independent press,” the press freedom group Rassemblement des Journalistes pour l’Émergence du Congo (RAJEC) said in a
statement
on Tuesday, calling on authorities to take urgent action to safeguard journalists.
Sey, director of the online outlet Netic News TV, told CPJ that four men in plainclothes
blocked
his path and showed him a warrant for his arrest as he was heading to the bank in the capital Kinshasa on October 3. Sey said they sprayed a substance on his nose and knees that caused him to lose consciousness.
Hours later, a passerby
found
him by a roadside, covered in blood, with torn clothes, and no shoes, and took him to a hospital.
‘I was struck in the ribs’
Gauthier Sey Tshiang in a hospital. (Photo: Credit withheld)
From the French capital Paris, Sey told CPJ: “I was struck in the ribs before being put into their vehicle. I am currently suffering from that and from breathing difficulties caused by the substance they sprayed on me.”
In the preceding days, Sey told CPJ, he had received several anonymous threatening calls ordering him to stop criticizing the Congolese music star Fally Ipupa and his lawyer, Dorothée Madiya. The musician has initiated legal proceedings against Collette Tuzaa, who
alleged
on social media in August that the two had an affair, as well as against those who shared Tuzaa’s posts and organized livestreams with her.
Journalist Virginie Manganga, who was
arrested
on September 20 and charged with defamation and spreading false infor
