The DRC has banned a documentary about a Congolese doctor who aids rape victims, calling it a defamatory portrait of the country’s military. Thierry Michel’s The Man Who Mends Women tells the story of Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who in 1999 opened a hospital in the DRC to treat women who were sexually assaulted during the country’s decades-long civil war. By some estimates, Mukwege’s efforts have saved over 40,000 lives. Last year, he was given Europe’s Sakharov Prize, awarded to those who dedicate their lives to human rights.

Dr. Mukwege responded with a press release:

It is with great regret that we were informed of the DRC broadcast ban of the documentary film by Thierry Michel and Colette Braeckman. We attended the first film in The Hague, Brussels, Paris, and we were anxious that our countrymen can see it in their country. This film was made for them. This film belongs to them. Censorship reveals the will of the government to deny the people Congolese its right of access to information. Its history and its right to memory collective and truth are denied it in order to better manipulate and control. Indeed, we live in the DR Congo in a climate of oppression, degradation of human rights situation and the shrinking space for fundamental freedom…

Today, it seems incomprehensible that the testimony of women and actors of civil society in this documentary film recounting the harsh reality experienced by tens of thousands of women over the last twenty years, but also their ability find the strength to live with dignity, can overly concerned authorities who took the decision to ban it. Jesus said: “You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free. “I bet that this prohibition measure is temporary, because the truth, even if it bothers some, has always meant to see the light.