Publish What You Pay
November 14, 2006

Campaigner against corruption in the Republic of the Congo is arrested for defaming president: latest move in a campaign of judicial harassment against activists denouncing the looting of Congolese public funds, says international NGO.

Christian Mounzeo, a leading campaigner against corruption in Congo Brazzaville and member of the Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was arrested on November 13 and accused of defaming Denis Sassou Nguesso, president of Congo Republic.

The arrest is the latest move in a campaign of judicial harassment against activists denouncing the looting of public money in Congo, sub-Saharan Africa’s fifth largest oil producer, said Publish What You Pay − an international NGO coalition promoting full transparency of oil, gas and mining companies’ payments to all national governments −
in its press statement on the arrest.

Christian Mounzeo was arbitrarily detained in Brazzaville on his return from Europe. His lawyer was denied access, but Mounzeo was reportedly accused of defaming the President of the Republic while abroad. As no formal charges have been made, his arrest and interrogation constitute violations of Congolese law. He has been transferred to the oil town of Pointe Noire, where he is due to stand trial on trumped-up charges of misappropriating funds from a non-governmental organisation, said Publish What You Pay. Mounzeo had already been illegally detained for over two weeks in
April, along with a fellow activist, Brice Mackosso. Both men have spoken out against the misuse of Congo’s oil revenues in their role as coordinators of the Congolese branch of PWYP, an international campaign calling for more transparent management of natural resource revenues in developing countries.

The two activists are now on trial for ‘forgery,’ despite the fact that their international funders have categorically denied any mismanagement, and the pre-trial investigation dropped a charge of misappropriation for lack of evidence.