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KINSHASA - A prominent DR Congo reporter, jailed over an article suggesting that intelligence agents assassinated an opposition politician, went on trial in the capital Kinshasa on Friday, an AFP journalist saw.

Stanis Bujakera, who works for Reuters and Jeune Afrique magazine, was detained on September 8 and transferred to prison less than a week later on suspicion of spreading false information.

His arrest followed a Jeune Afrique article published in late August, which suggested that Congolese military intelligence had killed opposition politician Cherubin Okende the month before.

The unsigned article was based on an alleged confidential memo from a separate intelligence agency. Congolese authorities have said the memo is a fake.

Bujakera's trial began on Friday inside the Makala prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, according to an AFP reporter present.

The 33-year-old's lawyers successfully petitioned the court on Friday to delay the proceedings by one week in order to better prepare their case.

But their request to temporarily release Bujakera on humanitarian grounds, given poor conditions in Makala, was denied.

The trial comes amid rising political tensions in the DRC ahead of a presidential and parliamentary election scheduled for December 20.

Incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi, who came to office in 2019, is running for a second term.