Thursday, March 19, 2009

Congo: Voix des Sans Voix Urgent Actions

Dear friends,

Please find below an Urgent Action for three colleagues from Voix des Sans Voix who were arrested on 15th March. Please circulate it widely and send appeals to the authorities for their release.

Veuillez trouver ci-dessous une Action Urgente pour les trois collègues de la Voix des Sans Voix qui ont été arrêtés avant-hier. Merci de la diffuser largement et d'envoyer des appels aux autorités pour leur libération.

AI Index: AFR 62/006/2009
16 March 2009
UA 78/09

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
*Dolly Inefo Mbunga (m),
*Floribert Chebeya Bahizire (m),
*Donat Tshikaya (m), and all human rights defenders

Human rights defenders Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, Dolly Inefo Mbunga and Donat Tshikaya were arrested on 15 March in Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital, by officers of the Police Nationale Congolaise , national police force. According to eyewitnesses, the men were beaten, handcuffed and “thrown” into police vehicles and then taken to the Kin-Mazière detention centre in central Kinshasa, the headquarters of the Special Services police.

They have been held incommunicado since then, putting them at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience, detained solely for their human rights activities and peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

The men were arrested at the offices of a national human rights network, RENADHOC (Réseau National des ONGs des Droits de l’Homme en RD Congo), just after they had held a press conference calling for a peaceful protest march and sit-in in of front the National Assembly, to protest against what they regard as unconstitutional attempts by the ruling AMP political coalition of President Joseph Kabila to force the removal from office of the President of the National Assembly, Vital Kamerhe, and other members of the National Assembly’s Secretariat.

Floribert Chibeya Bahizire is the President of the human rights NGO La Voix des Sans Voix (VSV), Voice of the Voiceless, and Executive-Secretary RENADHOC. Dolly Inefo Mbunga is the Deputy-Director of VSV and Donat Tshikaya is a RENADHOC staff member.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Special Services police (Direction des Renseignements Généraux et Services Spéciaux de la police (DRGS), is a special intelligence division of the national police force. The DRGS has been responsible for numerous arbitrary arrests of suspected opposition members and supporters, journalists and human rights activists, as well as acts of torture and other ill-treatment.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in French, English or your own language:

urging the authorities to release Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, Dolly Inefo Mbunga and Donat Tshikaya immediately and without condition, as they are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,
- call on the authorities to allow Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, Dolly Inefo Mbunga and Donat Tshikaya
immediate access to legal representation as well as family visits and any medical attention they may
require,
- demand that the authorities stop the harassment and unlawful arrests of human rights activists in DRC.

APPEALS: We need you to do 3 things:
Copy and Paste this appeal and send it to as many people as possible pleading to them to do the same

Write to: Gordon Brown –the British PM; David Milliband –British Foreign Secretary; Lord Mallock Brown -British Foreign Secretary in charge of Africa; David Cameron –Conservative Opposition leader; and Nick Clergg –Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader, and urge them to call upon the Congolese authorities to release Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, Dolly Inefo Mbunga and Donat Tshikaya immediately and without condition, as they are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

The Rt Hon Gordon Brown
UK Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London, SW1A 2AA

The Rt Hon David Milliband
UK Foreign Secretary
Ede House
143 Westoe Road
South Shields NE33 3PD
milibandd@parliament.uk
(0191) 456 8910.

Lord Mallock Brown
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
Tel: 020 7008 1500

The Rt Hon David Cameron
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Email: camerond@parliament.uk

The Rt Hon Nick Clerg MP
85 Nethergreen Road,
Sheffield S11 7EH
Tel: 0114 230 9002. Fax: 0114 230 9614
Email: nickclegg@sheffieldhallam.org.uk

We need you to CONTACT YOUR MP and ask him or her to write to the PM Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary on your behalf asking him to:
- call for the release of all prisoner of conscious in the Congo; and
- urging the Congolese authority to stop all forms of arbitrary arrest
We have a DRAFT LETTER: “Human rights = Human life” which you can alter to send to your MP, PM or Opposition leader either by post or email. Please email Vava Tampa on: vava.tampa@savethecongo.co.uk for a copy
Note:
To find out the name of your MP (go to http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/commons/l/)
a. Their email address will be the first letter of the first name.surname@parliament.uk (e.g. for Gordon Brown it would be g.brown@parliament.uk)
b. You can actually write to 2 MPs! Your home MP and your Uni MP.
2) Personalize the generic letter by replacing the *red* text

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY, and if you need further details on the case check with the International Secretariat, or your section office or email Vava Tampa on: vava.tampa@savethecongo.co.uk