Front Line is deeply concerned at the death of Mr Bruno Ossebi, a journalist of Congolese and French nationality writing for the online newspaper “Mwinda”, and the lack of results in the investigation that ensued. Bruno Ossebi died from the injuries sustained following a fire in his home in Brazzaville.

Further Information

On 21 January 2009, late at night, a fire developed at Bruno Ossebi's home in Brazzaville, killing his girlfriend and her 8- and 10-year old children. He was then admitted to a military hospital with second degree burns on 30% of his body, but died unexpectedly in the early morning of 1 February, despite earlier improvements in his medical condition. It is reported that Bruno Ossebi died a day before a scheduled medical evacuation to France.

The fire on 21 January followed the publication on Mwinda, three days earlier, of an article by Bruno Ossebi alleging high-level corruption within the government, in particular the President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. The article featured an interview with Mr Benjamin Toungamani, an exiled political dissident. On the same night of the fire at Bruno Ossebi's home, a similar fire reportedly hit Benjamin Toungamani's home, causing no injuries. The spokeperson of the national police initially declared that no investigation would be carried out. The Office of the Prosecutor later opened an investigation, which has produced no results to date.

It is reported that both Bruno Ossebi and Benjamin Toungamani were planning to become co-plaintiffs in a legal complaint filed in France against President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and the Presidents of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea and Gabon for embezzlement of public funds. In January 2009, in Gabon, five human rights defenders suffered harassment in connection to the same lawsuit.

While no evidence has been gathered to prove that the fire at Bruno Ossebi's home was intentional, Front Line considers that the time of the incident and the parallel similar fire at Toungamani's home may suggest that the events were motivated by Bruno Ossebi's reporting on government corruption and by his involvement in the lawsuit against President Denis Sassou-Nguesso in France.