Contrary to what the Minister of State for Justice and Keeper of the Seals announced at the beginning of the week, the bandits commonly referred to as to your servant will not be executed after their death sentence. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Interior and Security, Jacquemain Shabani, rejected this measure, affirming that the Democratic Republic of Congo remains a state of law.
Speaking to the press on Thursday, the head of national security explained that this announcement was only a strategy aimed at deterring these criminals, perpetrators of numerous abuses in the cities.
“Charles Pascal once said that we must know how to terrorize the terrorists who destabilize our country on a social level. When you are a manager, sometimes you have to use harsh language, which neutralizes, just with a dissuasive word. It is only in this sense; otherwise, we are a state of law,” clarified the VPM of the Interior.
Following Constant Mutamba’s remarks, the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) expressed its concerns about a decline in the right to life and the non-compliance with international commitments made by the DRC in terms of human rights . In a press release, she recalled her recommendation of March 26 not to carry out executions of those sentenced to death and to initiate judicial reforms. The CNDH also invites the Congolese State to ratify the second optional protocol relating to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1989, aimed at abolishing the death penalty.
In a message published on For the former president of the Human Rights Commission of the National Assembly, “this sentence is an imaginary solution which will have no effect”.
Furthermore, several young people to your servant arrested as part of operation “Ndobo” (the hook in Lingala) continue to appear before the Kinshasa high courts, in mobile hearings and in flagrante delicto proceedings. Those below the age of majority are referred to juvenile courts, where they will also be tried and sentenced.
Samir Lukombo
Belgium
