Kinshasa – The jailed president of a human rights group in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been freed on bail because of poor health, his association said on Monday.
Golden Misabiko, an outspoken critic of the role of state agencies in a uranium mine in the southeastern province of Katanga, appeared in court on August 20 charged with “spreading false rumours inciting the population to rebellion.”
He was freed on bail at the request of his lawyers, who said his health had deteriorated since he was picked up by intelligence agents on July 24 in Lubumbashi, the provincial capital.
Misabiko’s African Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Asadho) in July denounced the role of some state institutions in illegal artisanal mining at the Shinkolobwe uranium mine, despite it being shut down after a cave-in in 2004.
French nuclear group Areva won the rights to develop the mine as part of a contract signed with the Kinshasa government in March.
The contract gives Areva mining rights across the vast, mineral-rich country.
Shinkolobwe’s place in history is as the source of the uranium used in the Hiroshima bomb.
Timothee Mbuya, the vice-president of Asadho, told AFP on Monday that Misabiko was freed last Friday and that all he had done was to “alert the authorities to the illicit exploitation of uranium.”
Misabiko is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday.
Early in August, 221 non-governmental organisations sent a joint letter to President Joseph Kabila, urging him to have Misabiko freed.
The NGOs’ letter, copied to AFP, protested at abuse of power in the arrest and urged Kabila: “We ask you to ensure an end to all interference by executive power in the administration of justice in the case that concerns us.” – AFP
