The Purpose:
This web-site is constructed by the French and Moland families.
The purpose of this website is for us in the families of Joshua and Tjotsolv to have an opportunity to tell our version, without it being twisted and turned by the media. The last 5 months have been a big burden for us in several ways. One is to not know how our beloved family member is doing. In the beginning we often knew less than the media, and that was frustrating.
We often have had no idea what has happened, what is happening now and what is going to happen. For us, this has been an ordeal. To get the phonecall with the message that: your brother is in prison in Congo, we do not know exactly where, and we do not know how he is, but he lives, was just terrible. The questions are roaming in your head, but you can not find any answers.
And then the media start up. The media have, in one way, probably saved Joshua's and Tjostolv's lives. The fact that the press got onto the case so quickly, with "two Norwegians imprisoned in Congo", may have made the Congolese pause for thought before doing something stupid. They have protected the boys in one way, by being there, filming and documenting, and for that we are very grateful.
Unfortunately, the media couldn't stop when the action stopped in Congo. Recently, they've tried to get as much out of the case as possible, to get new headlines, to sell more newspapers. A lot of what's been printed in the media are lies. A lot is half-truth, twisted and turned, in order to construct as much mystery and suspicion as possible. Quite often, they write an article, without even thinking about talking to the counterpart, so that they can defend themselves. In this way, it ends up as being 'the truth' for the Norwegian people.
Hannah French
What has surprised us quite a lot in the Congo case is that both the investigation and the media has been based on the so-called "witnesses" story about the death of Abedi Kasongo. (See box for articles).
There is hardly anyone who has tried to investigate on the basis of Molands and French version of what happened. What if the investigation and the media also gave their version a chance. We are talking, after all, about the death penalty, which can only be changed to life sentences.
On this site, we will therefore write about things that can help see the murder case from a different angle than just witnesses.
Kari Hilde French
