An apparent armed robbery at TV journalist Elie Smith’s Brazzaville home in the early hours of 10 September, during which Smith’s sister was raped, is suspected by Smith’s media colleagues of being a government-orchestrated act of reprisal.
A Cameroon journalist based in Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Elie Smith hosts a leading interview programme on MNTV.
Shortly after returning home at 1am. on 10 September, four heavily-armed men in civilian dress and police-style boots burst into Smith’s home, threatened to kill him, roughed him up, took his wedding ring, and then set about gathering up objects of value. After ransacking the entire house, they took Smith’s sister into a bedroom and raped her, and then finally left without doing Smith any further harm. His sister was admitted to hospital.
Fellow journalists believe the robbery was a sham and that the operation was a reprisal by pro-government elements within the police for Smith’s outspoken comments during his programme, “La Grande Interview,” which are thought to have angered the government. Smith also posted online photos showing activists who he alleged were injured by plain-clothed police infiltrators during a meeting of the Opposition Party Collective on 7 September. He has allegedly been under surveillance for some weeks.
“The violence of the attack on Smith and his sister is extremely shocking,” Reporters Without Borders assistant research director Virginie Dangles said. “We urge the authorities to quickly arrest the assailants and find out who gave them their orders.”
News of the attack on Smith and his sister quickly circulated. After breaking the story on her blog on 10th September, journalist and blogger Sadio Kante was summoned to police headquarters and interrogated for several hours.
Republic of Congo is ranked 82nd out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
