CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF)

government: republic

state of civil and political rights: Not free

constitution: 18 February 2006

legal system: accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations.

legislative system: bicameral legislature consists of a National Assembly and a Senate

judicial system: Constitutional Court; Appeals Court or Cour de Cassation; Council of State; High Military Judicial System: Court; plus civil and military courts and tribunals

religion: 50% Catholic; 20% Protestant; 10% Kimbanguist, 10% Muslim, 10% other (includes syncretic sects and indigenous beliefs)

death row: at least 200 (according Amnesty International up to 2004) and at least 10 juveniles (according the UN up to 2005)

year of last executions: 7-1-2003

death sentences: 9

executions: 0

international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

1st Optional Protocol to the Covenant

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty)

situation:
Capital crimes are: aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, treason, spying, political and military offences and genocide.
Since 1994 the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; formerly called Zaire) has been rent by ethnic strife and civil war, touched off by a massive inflow of refugees from the fighting in Rwanda and Burundi. The government of former president Mobutu Sese Seko was toppled by a rebellion led by Laurent Kabila in May 1997; his regime was subsequently challenged by a rebellion backed by Rwanda and Uganda in August 1998. Troops from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad, and Sudan intervened to support the Kinshasa regime. A cease-fire was signed on July 10, 1999, but sporadic fighting continued. Kabila was assassinated in January 2001 and his son Joseph Kabila was named head of state. The new president quickly began overtures to end the war.
The Democratic Republic of Congo put an end to seven years of civil war on July 1, 2003, when a transitional government of national unity was set up, following mediation by the UN and the EU. The first free political elections since independence from Belgium in 1960, initially planned for 2005, were delayed to July 30, 2006.
On January 7, 2003 fifteen people, charged with crimes such as subversion of the state, treason, armed robbery and participation in organised crime, were executed in secret at a military camp close to Kinshasa’s Ndjili airport. These were the first executions known to have taken place since the lifting, on September 23, 2002, of a moratorium on executions announced by then Human Rights Minister Leonard She Okitundu on December 10, 1999.
The execution of the 15 was ordered by the Court d’ordre militaire (COM) a special itinerant tribunal that since its creation in 1997 had been responsible for the execution of some 200 individuals. Its verdicts could not be appealed.
The COM was abolished on April 24, 2003. Its last ruling was issued on January 7, 2003 when it condemned to death 30 men accused of involvement in the assassination of then president Laurent Kabila in January 2001.
On June 28, 2003 during a meeting with an HOC delegation in Kinshasa, President Joseph Kabila declared that he would not authorise any executions, not even those of the men condemned for the assassination of his father, until Parliament had taken a stand on the death penalty.
On May 10, 2005, the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, removed the reference to the death penalty in the draft constitution previously approved by the Senate. The Assembly finished its review of all the articles of the new constitution on May 13, 2005. The new constitution was approved by popular vote in December 2005.
In September 2005, UN denounced that at least 10 juveniles are in the RDC death row.
On December 18, 2008 Democratic Republic of Congo was absent during the vote on the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.

news

Death penalty for violent crimes

DR CONGO COURT REJECTS APPEAL BY NORWEGIANS ON DEATH ROW

04 December 2009

the military court of Orientale province in northern Democratic Republic of Congo rejected an appeal by Norwegians Tjostolv Moland, 28, and Joshua French, 27.

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CONGO: NORWEGIANS APPEAL DRC DEATH PENALTY

19 October 2009

two Norwegians sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in September began an appeal against the sentence, judicial sources said.

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DRC: TWO NORWEGIANS SENTENCED TO DEATH

09 September 2009

a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced two Norwegians to death on charges of murder and espionage.

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Wrongfully-convicted people

CONGO OVERRULES NORWEGIANS’ DEATH SENTENCES

09 December 2009

the death sentence of the two Norwegians sentenced by the military court of Kisangani town in Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo was quashed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Death sentences issued by military tribunals

DR CONGO: MILITIA LEADER GUILTY IN LANDMARK TRIAL

23 March 2009

Mai Mai commander Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga and 6 other combatants were sentenced to death by a military court in the garrison of Haut-Katanga, in Katanga province.

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NEWS

NORWAY SAYS DR CONGO WON'T EXECUTE CONDEMNED MEN

10 September 2009

The Democratic Republic of Congo government has given assurances that two Norwegians sentenced to death for murder and spying would not be executed, Norway's foreign ministry said.

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HANDS OFF CAIN: POSITIVE INITIATIVE IN THE DRC

17 June 2009

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DEATH PENALTY: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO STARTS TOWARDS ABOLITION WITH A LEGAL MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS

11 June 2009

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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: OLIVIERO TOSCANI WORKS ON CAMPAIGN TO RAISE AWARENESS ON THE DEATH PENALTY

08 April 2009

Oliviero Toscani will contribute an African version of the famous 'We, on the death

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10 September 2009 :

The Democratic Republic of Congo government has given assurances that two Norwegians sentenced to death for murder and spying would not be executed, Norway's foreign ministry said.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere received assurances from his Congo counterpart Alexis Thambwe Mwamba in a telephone conversation, the ministry said in a statement.
"He assured Mr Stoere that the two men would not under any circumstances be executed even if the verdict is upheld," it said.
"The Congolese government has adopted a moratorium on the death penalty and capital punishment is no longer applied in the country," it said.
Tjostolv Moland, 28, and Joshua French, 27 -- both former soldiers -- were convicted on September 8 by a military court in the Congo city of Kisangani for killing their driver on May 5.
The two, who were in Kisangani either as tourists or on business depending on varying reports, have said their driver was killed by bandits.
Norway has denounced the death sentence.
The two were also found guilty of illegal arms possession and armed robbery. One of the pair was also found guilty of the attempted murder of two other people.
"Minister Mwamba also said the Democratic Republic of Congo would be open to a discussion on the possibility of serving part of the (final) sentence in Norway," the Norwegian statement said.
Oslo has rejected the allegations of spying, for which it has been ordered by the court to pay 60 million dollars in reparations. "I reiterated that the two Norwegian have no ties to the Norwegian authorities," Stoere said.
According to Norwegian television TV2 Nyhetskanalen, the two men lodged an appeal on September 8.
Stoere added that he had agreed to meet with his Congolese counterpart on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this month in New York, and recalled that Congolese authorities were responsible for the safety of the two men.

(Sources: Afp, 09/09/2009)

17 June 2009 :

the seminar that followed the June 10th Conference in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the abolition of capital punishment has ended. The seminar topic was communication regarding the death penalty.
Fifty journalists, coming from all provinces of the DRC, participated in the seminar. The event was organised by Hands Off Cain in collaboration with the Congolese National Press Union, with the sponsorship of the RAI Social Secretary and thanks to contributions by the Foreign Affairs Minster and the Elsa Peretti Foundation.
The docents of the Metawin society also participated. It was coordinated by Oliviero Toscani who founded “La Sterpaia”, a workshop in Tuscany on the art of multimedia communication. The goal was to realise an African campaign for the abolition of the death penalty.
Mr Toscani, photographer and Hands Off Cain board of director, said: "An important determination to act towards abolition emerged from the efforts of the Conference and the seminar. This commitment is very interesting because it allows us to do a campaign from the top. The institutions are already convinced, so the campaign is aimed at public opinion, and not the opposite as usually happens with the death penalty. It struck me that a country that has many primary necessities has made the abolition of the death penalty a priority. We can learn from this".

(Sources: HOC, 14/06/2009)

11 June 2009 :

Hands Off Cain organised a conference in Kinshasa against the death penalty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that was sponsorsed by the Congolese National Assembly President and Senate President, with the contribution of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The conference concluded with the Senate President announcing the start of the legislative process to abolish the death penalty in Congo. He also announced that, in the mean time, a legal moratorium on executions would be established. The President of the National Assembly, Evariste Boshab, echoed this in his inaugural speech. He explained that ordinary penal laws will be brought into line with the new Congolese Constitution that no longer provides for the death penalty. Two proposed laws regarding this have already been lodged in the Senate and the National Assembly, by Leonard She Okitundu and Nyabirungu Mwene Songa respectively.
Speaking at the conference, Justice Minister Luzolo Bambi spoke of “responsible abolition” and the necessity for improving jail conditions in the country, in view of the abolition of capital punishment.
The opinion of Italian Senate Vice President Emma Bonino, present in Kinshasa, was positive. “The conference fully acknowledged the method and the contents of the Resolution for the moratorium approved by the UN General Assembly. The Democratic Republic of Congo is symbolic of the bloodshed in Africa, and this sends a signal of hope and non violence to the entire world.”
Radical Parliamentarian Elisabetta Zamparutti, the organiser of Hands Off Cain’s Kinshasa conference, said that “the abolition of the death penalty in Congo will turn the page and interrupt the absurd chain of hate and revenge that was most tragic and real in this part of the continent.”
At the closing of the conference, a three day seminar began for those responsible for the information that comes from the diverse provinces of Congo. The objective is to create a multimedia campaign to raise public awareness against the death penalty. The seminar was sponsored by the Congolese National Press Union and the RAI Social Secretary, whose director, Carlo Romeo, was present in Kinshasa.
The seminar was coordinated by Oliviero Toscani, who founded “La Sterpaia”, a workshop on the art of multimedia communication in Tuscany. Its purpose is to create an African version of the well known campaign “We, on death row”, that was realised in 2000 in the United States.

(Sources: Hands Off Cain, 11/06/2009)

08 April 2009 :

Oliviero Toscani will contribute an African version of the famous 'We, on the death row' campaign from 2000, against the death penalty in the United States, to the Hands Off Cain project for the abolition of capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The famous Italian photographer will coordinate, under the project financed 50% by the Cooperation for development, a seminar that will be held in Kinshasa from the 9th to the 12th of June. The seminar will involve around 50 Congolese journalists, technicians, photographers, TV, radio and print advertisers, to raise awareness and influence public opinion on the abolition of the death penalty.
In a press conference held in Montecitorio, Hands Off Cain secretary Sergio D’Elia noted that the African country is in practice abolitionist: the last executions were in 2003. Since then, president Joseph Kabila has been committed to stopping executions (including the assassins of Father Laurent already sentenced to death) and a proposed abolitionist law was presented in Parliament.
'But the reform of the penal code isn't enough, we need to change public opinion. People still see the death penalty as an instrument of atonement and as a deterrent,' Chantal Kanyimbo, president of the Congolese Press Association, said when presenting the initiative. The Association is supporting the project together with the RAI Social Secretary.
For Senate Vice President Emma Bonino, it is “an ambitious project that could make the Democratic Republic of Congo a symbol: if the results are positive, it could be a stimulus to the other African countries to move towards the abolition of the death penalty.”
"The Cooperation for development must take the appropriate action not only in the economic arena, even more so in times of crisis and financial hardship. Commitment to the development of culture, democracy and the state of rights is just as important,” Bonino emphasised.

(Sources: ANSA, Adn, 03/04/2009)

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