Alexandre Ibacka Dzabana, coordinator of the Congolese platform for human rights and democracy NGOs, a member of the M22 movement and the Turn the Page coalition, was arrested on Thursday morning. He is suspected of trying to destabilize the state and institutions ten days before the next presidential election.
Alexandre Ibacka Dzabana, 77, left his home early Thursday morning. He was expected. At least three people in civilian clothes initiate it against his will in their car.
It is in fact an “interpellation”, explains RFI Thierry Moungalla, government spokesman. “There are material elements that fall under the secrecy of the intelligence services that justified his arrest and his current consultation with the specialized services. There is an understanding with the Congolese officers based abroad, which aims to destabilize the current process, as we are, as you know, in an election situation and the institutions of the republic. ”
On Thursday night, his lawyer had still not been able to meet Alexandre Ibacka Dzabana. A collective consisting of eight civil society organizations, national and international, is indignant and concerned.
“Normally, this is not how you call someone out,” said Trésor Nzila, director of the Congolese Human Rights Observatory. He must receive a summons, a formal arrest made by the intelligence services. That was not the case. There we face a situation that can be described as kidnapping. That is unacceptable. The charge of attacking the state’s internal security, attempted destabilization, has become a boating offense in the Republic of Congo. It is an offense regularly used to silence activists. ”
His colleagues from civil society demand the immediate release of Alexandre Ibacka Dzabana or the initiation of legal proceedings.
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