Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should immediately release broadcast journalist Benjamin Mutiya, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today (December 21, 2017). The national security service (ANR) arrested Mutiya, a reporter at the community station Radio Télévision Communautaire de Walikale (RTCWA), in Walikale, on December 14, according to local press freedom groups.

Mutiya is accused of defaming Marie-Claire Bangwene, the administrator of Walikale, a territory in North Kivu province, according to the local press freedom group L'Observatoire de la Liberté de la Presse en Afrique. He has not been charged, Fortunat Maronga, national coordinator of the local rights group Carrefour pour la Justice, le Développement et les Droits Humains, told CPJ.