"It should really be called a concentration camp"

In 2023, journalist Stanis Bujakera was imprisoned for six months. The prosecutors were aiming for 20 years. The charge? Writing an article that suggested the country's military intelligence had been involved in an assassination.

Stanis Bujakera is one of Democratic Republic of Congo’s most popular journalists. In 2023, he was imprisoned for six months while reporting on the elections. The prosecutors were aiming for 20 years.

After his arrest, organisations fighting for press freedom, like Reporters Without Borders, (that’s RSF), and the Congo Hold-Up investigative team, worked to free him. 

Journalists and intellectuals including Wole Soyinka, Leïla Slimani and Soulemayne Bachir Diagne signed petitions. And ambassadors worked behind the scenes.

There are countless other journalists in Africa who are stopped from doing their job - through intimidation, censorship and violence. In this interview we remember journalists like the Cameroonian Martinez Zogo and Sylvie Yebel. And there are others who have also died in suspicious circumstances: John Williams Ntwali in Rwanda, Ahmed Hussein-Suale in Ghana, and Thulani Maseko in Eswatini.

The work African journalists do is extremely dangerous. In this interview, Stanis talks about his day-to-day life in the notorious Makala jail. It’s a chilling reminder of the risks independent journalists take to tell the truth to power. 

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