Bujakera’s lawyer, Yana Ndikulu, said the journalist —who works for several international media including Jeune Afrique —was released on Tuesday evening from the prison in the capital Kinshasa where he was being held.
"Our client is free," Ndikulu said.
Prior to Bujakera’s release, his team had earlier on said he would remain in jail pending an appeal of his sentence by the public prosecutor’s office. His release was unexpectedly suspended after news emerged on Tuesday evening that the state prosecutor in the case had lodged an appeal against the sentence.
About three hours later, Bujakera's lawyers said the prosecutor had withdrawn his appeal, paving the way for his release.
Ndikulu said, "from what we understand, the prosecutor eventually withdrew the appeal, which allowed this late release."
Patient Ligodi, the head of the online Actualite.cd newspaper shared Ndikulu’s sentiments. Speaking to French media outlet, Agence France-Presse, he said Bujakera "is free, he is in the car, I’m taking him home."
Bujakera was arrested after a Jeune Afrique article was published in late August 2023, suggesting that Congolese military intelligence had killed Cherubin Okende the month before.
Okende, a former minister and spokesman for the opposition party Ensemble Pour la Republique ("United for the Republic"), disappeared on July 12 last year. His bullet-riddled body was found in his car in Kinshasa the following day.
Local and international rights groups including Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International had condemned Bujakera's detention, calling it an attack on press freedom.
Reuters, another media outlet that Bujakera worked for, also called for his release.
Some information for this article was sourced from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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