Peter Tiani, a journalist and tv presenter, was on Friday taken into custody and taken to an unknown location by men in civil regalia posing as military agents and accompanied by armed military personnel in uniform.
Tiani who is the owner of local television station, Perfect TV, was arrested in Kinshasa by suspected secret agents of President Fèlix Tshisekedi in an effort to derail the course of justice in the case of Chérubin Okende who was assassinated last month.
Okende, a spokesperson of the opposition Ensemble Pour la Republique party, was last month found dead in his vehicle after being kidnapped by plain clothed state agents.
Tiani’s arrest has been widely seen as a move by President Tshisekedi’s secret camp to exterminate information relating to the case of Okende’s murder.
In a tense atmosphere at the Galerie Presidentielle building in Kinshasa, Tiani was whisked away to a destination still unknown even as at now.
“If something bad happens to me, you know where it will happen” Tiani said as he was taken by the secret agents.
Tiani had earlier in July summoned to appear before the authorities and had in the company of his lawyers presented himself at the police bureau only to be informed the Deputy Divisional Commissioner had been absent.