Front Line is concerned following reports that trade union member and human rights defender, Mr Nginamau Malaba, has been detained by the national intelligence agency (ANR). Nginamau Malaba is President of the union committee at the Ministry for the National Economy and Commerce.

Further Information

On 19 January 2009, at approximately 11 a.m., Nginamau Malaba was stopped by five agents of the ANR near the offices of the Prime Minister. Nginamau Malaba had been on his way to the office of the Prime Minister to present an employees' memorandum denouncing misappropriation of public funds by the Minister for the National Economy and Commerce, and calling for the rectification of these actions, including payment of employee bonuses. He is now detained in the ANR facilities on Avenue Lemera ex 3Z Nº 2, near the office of the Prime Minister, in Gombe, Kinshasa. He has not been allowed to see his lawyer and no charges have been brought against him. Only more than two weeks after the arrest, at the order of the Prime Minister, his wife was allowed to visit him for five minutes in the presence of ANR agents at 12 noon on 5 February 2009.

Front Line believes that Nginamau Malaba has been detained because of his legitimate work in the defence of human rights, in particular his work to defend the right of workers to just and favourable remuneration. Front Line is seriously concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Ngimanau Malaba, especially as he is allegedly at risk of torture.