Kinshasa, June 26, 2025—A senior military officer of the Congolese armed forces arrested Serge Sindani, a defense reporter and director of the privately owned website Kis24.info, on Tuesday, June 24, for posting a photo of combat aircraft on his X account two days prior.
“Authorities in the DRC must not legitimize the detention of journalist Serge Sindani under the pretext of the ongoing war in the east of the country,” said CPJ Regional Director Angela Quintal, from New York. “Authorities must release Sindani without delay so that he can continue informing the local population about important public issues, including conflict in the region.”
The photo, taken from a distance, showed military planes at Bangoka International Airport in Kisangani, a city in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the caption: “RDC-Instant Kisangani — the city is calm and under control with our Sukhoi fighter jets. Happy Sunday,” according to a statement by the outlet, reviewed by CPJ and Kis24.info journalist Steves Paluku Mbusa, who spoke with CPJ.
According to the same sources, Sindani is detained in a military intelligence cell in Kisangani, a city in the northern central Tshopo province, and was questioned by Colonel Mwambi, who accused him of having bad intentions for showing military planes in the context of the current war in the region.
“Sindani is one of ours,” Mwambi told CPJ by phone. “He easily covers military activities in the Tshopo province. We are in an operational war province; he took the liberty of filming our war planes without any authorization from the military hierarchy. We do not know his intentions. Was it to inform our enemies? We are investigating his case.”
The DRC and Rwanda are set to sign a U.S.-brokered peace deal in Washington D.C. on June 27, aimed at ending decades of conflict in the eastern DRC.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.