Libreville (AFP)

Two French journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) in the Central African Republic were brutally arrested and their equipment confiscated or destroyed on Saturday, during the dispersal of an opposition demonstration in Bangui, banned by the authorities.

The two correspondents, Charles Bouessel (28) and Florent Vergnes (30), said they were detained for more than six hours and heard three times, after being arrested and repeatedly beaten by members of the Central African Republic Office. repression of banditry (OCRB).

Accredited to work in this country, the two journalists were arrested Saturday around 15:00 (14:00 GMT).

"AFP protests against the unjustifiable police violence suffered by two of its collaborators on Saturday in Bangui," said AFP Africa director Boris Bachorz.

The journalists were first detained by the OCRB and then transferred to the premises of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation Services (DSPJ) in Bangui, according to diplomatic sources, the Central African Minister of Justice, and the two journalists of the AFP.

"The demonstration was going well, the CRS let us film and saw that we were outside the procession", testified Charles Bouessel, confirming the version of the other journalist of AFP, Florent Vergnes.

"The protesters were quickly dispersed, OCRB pickups arrived, live ammunition was fired."

"With Florent we are trying to leave (...) The OCRB sees us and seems furious that we filmed the scene, they rush on us," he added. "One of them catches my camera and shatters it on the floor, I put my hands up, but I get a first slap in the head My backpack (where I have my papers, passport, map blue, press accreditation ...) is torn off and thrown to the ground.I ask to take it, as well as the debris from my device but I only get blows ".

"We are taken to the reception of the OCRB, where I am told to empty my pockets to notify what I have about me at the beginning of the custody, I explain to them that I have nothing left, the cops took everything from me, it does not interest them, and it is surely lost they tell me ".

- "Belted at the throat" -

"We are released at 8:48 pm, I have no more papers, no money and no telephone, the police propose to bring us back but ask for 10,000 francs (15 euros) + for gasoline +", continues Charles Bouessel.

For his part, Florent Vergnes claimed to have "been belted by the throat" and having "taken donuts, kicks of Kalashnikov in the back". "They snatched my bag, my camera and my phone" during the arrest.

"I bled my nose and my back and jaw hurt," added Florent Vergnes, who had his injuries recorded by a doctor in Bangui Sunday morning.

"This day, he has a large right temporal hematoma, a hematoma on the right scapula, a hematoma on the base of the nose and a pain on the left temporomandibular joint and a disorder of the dental articulate", according to the terms of the medical certificate.

Florent Vergnes pointed out that at the time of his arrest, he had reported being duly accredited: "I told them that I was a journalist and that I was accredited, they told me + call your minister +".

According to the Central African Minister of Justice, Flavien Mbata, the two journalists "were arrested by the police because they were present at the scene of a demonstration prohibited by the police."

"We asked that they be released yesterday (Saturday), what was done." Tomorrow (Monday), when we will have all the elements and the minutes, we will decide the continuation of the procedure ", added the minister, joined by AFP Libreville.

- AFP protest -

In a statement, AFP director for Africa, Boris Bachorz, wrote that "AFP is protesting against the unjustifiable police violence suffered by two of its collaborators in Bangui on Saturday." Charles Bouessel and Florent Vergnes were not doing anything about it. other than their work, for which they were duly accredited by the Central African authorities, when they were arrested and then beaten by members of the police, before being kept in custody for long hours ".

"We ask the CAR authorities for assurances that these two journalists, like all of their colleagues in the Central African Republic, can continue to carry out their mission without having to fear for their physical integrity," he said, indicating that AFP's formal approach would be carried out as of Monday.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also "condemned the aggression" of the two correspondents. "These abuses must not go unpunished," the NGO wrote Sunday on Twitter.

In the latest RSF world press freedom index, the Central African Republic ranks 145th out of 180.

? 2019 AFP