Belgian Jean-Jacques Wondo, sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was released from prison

Belgian Jean-Jacques Wondo, sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was released from prison



Jean-Jacques Wondo, Belgian citizen sentenced to death in the DRC, was released after eight months of detention in Kinshasa.



Jean-Jacques Wondo was released from prison. His lawyer Carlos Ngwapshi confirms to us that he left prison, he must be brought before a Congolese authority, before joining the Belgian Embassy. However, the lawyer indicates that he did not see the act of liberation.

This Belgian citizen, expert in military issues and deputy director for the general administration of courts, had been imprisoned for eight months in Kinshasa. He was tried on appeal with 37 people sentenced to death at first instance for an attempt to “coup d’etat“In May in the Congolese capital. Last week, the Congo Military Court of Appeal confirmed the death sentence on appeal.





On May 19, 2024 in the early morning in Kinshasa, several dozen armed men had attacked the home of a minister before investing the Palais de la Nation, a historic building housing the offices of President Félix Tshisekedi. The intervention of the security forces had ended their action and led to the death of four attackers. Fifty -one people were presented to justice in this file. Fourteen were acquitted during the first trial, while all the others received capital punishment, including Jean-Jacques Wondo.

The Belgian was considered by Congolese justice as “the designer (…) of the missed coup”.

His family and many supporters have mobilized to defend the cause of Jean-Jacques Wondo. Belgian diplomacy has deemed “particularly disturbing” the death penalties pronounced.








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