Tactics and tools for the protection
of Human Rights Defenders

30 October 2011

On 23 June 2011, i.e. a year after the events, and 36 hearings later, the Kinshasa-Gombe Military Court handed down its decision in the case of those charged with the killing of Floribert Chebeya and the disappearance of Fidèle Bazana – human rights defenders and, respectively, Executive Director and member of the NGO “La Voix des Sans Voix (VSV).

On 2 June 2010, Floribert Chebeya was found dead in his car in Kinshasa. The day before, he and his driver, Fidèle Bazana, had gone to the office of the Inspector General of the Congolese National Police (known by the French initials PNC), General John Numbi, in accordance with their appointment with the latter, fixed by the Principal Inspector of the PNC, Colonel Daniel Mukalay, and had not been seen since. The body of Fidèle Bazana has not been found to date. On 16 November 2010, the Kinshasa-Gombe District Civil Court handed down a declaratory judgement of death for the latter.

In its decision, the Military Court ruled that Floribert Chebeya had been assassinated and declared that five members of the PNC were responsible. As to Fidèle Bazana, the Court ruled only that he had been arbitrarily arrested and detained, to the exclusion of murder or assassination.

The Court sentenced five of the eight police officers accused. It sentenced to death for the assassination of Floribert Chebeya: Colonel Daniel Mukalay, Principal Inspector of the PNC and assistant director in charge of operations and intelligence of the Department of Intelligence and Special Services (known by the French initials DRGS), Lieutenant-Colonel Christian Ngoy (fugitive), Deputy Commissioner Jacques Mugabo (fugitive) and Major Paul Milambwe (fugitive). For his part, Lieutenant Michel Mwila was sentenced to life imprisonment. The first four were likewise given a five-year prison sentence for the arbitrary arrest and detention of Fidèle Bazana. Three other of the accused police officers1 were acquitted of charges of assassination and of arbitrary arrest and detention.

While we may welcome the fact that this trial was held and that the court had the courage to hold police officials responsible (the sentencing of high-ranking police officers being significant in this regard), considerable uncertainties nonetheless remain in this case, both as to the exact circumstances of the death of Floribert Chebeya and Fidèle Bazana, and the responsibility of all the parties involved in the case, and in particular the sponsor or sponsors. Furthermore, some convicts are still at large.

Observers at the trial, including Protection International, noted a very tense atmosphere around this case and cited various shortcomings during the pre-trial procedure and the trial itself. The latter are violations of the right to a fair trial and obstacles to the disclosure of the truth.
 

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