Soleil Balanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Soleil Balanga, a radio journalist for local station Monkoto Soso Aleli in Equateur province, was killed on April 16, 2015. The station had been off the air for several weeks due to a broken transmitter and Balanga, in order to continue his work, walked through the town every morning with a megaphone to announce the local news. Balanga’s throat was slit by a single assailant on his morning walk the day after he delivered the news of a new supervisor taking over the Monkato General Hospital. The appointment of new management was controversial and reportedly divided members of Monkato. Initial reports by local news station Radio Okapi claimed that police arrested the son of the outgoing hospital supervisor in connection with Balanga’s death.

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