Kinshasa — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in southeast Democratic Republic of the Congo to immediately release journalist Trésor Muntu, who was detained on Tuesday after sharing another journalist's post that criticized a politician.

"DRC authorities must free Trésor Muntu and refrain from weaponizing the justice system to intimidate journalists," said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal. "This latest detention illustrates the urgent need to end authorities' use of criminal defamation to silence critical reporting,"

On September 15, about 12 plainclothes officers with an arrest warrant detained Muntu, director general of Centrale Radio Télévision, in the eastern city of Likasi in Haut-Katanga Province, as he was preparing to present the morning news, Lampadaire Média reported and local journalist Clarisse Kisanga told CPJ.

Muntu was initially taken to Likasi police station and then the prosecutor's holding cell in Lubumbashi, a city about 125 kilometers southeast, Kisanga said.

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On September 15, Muntu was heard by the public prosecutor's office and charged with defamation and publishing false news, and on September 16 he was taken to Lubumbashi's Kasapa Central Prison, the journalist's lawyer Jean Kizumba told CPJ. If found guilty, Muntu could face up to five years in prison.

The case stems from a complaint by Lilianne Komba Maka, vice-president of Haut-Katanga provincial assembly, after Muntu shared a post on five WhatsApp groups, Kizumba said. The post, by Kinshasa-based journalist Patrick Lokala, accused Komba of using her influence to shield her sister in a land dispute.

Komba and Haut-Katanga government spokesperson Max Mpande Kisimba did not answer CPJ's calls to request comment.