DRC: REBELS GET DEATH SENTENCES FOR MBANDAKA ATTACK
May 19, 2010: eleven militia members were sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo for their part in an attack that left two UN staff dead in April in the town of Mbandaka.
The unrest followed clashes between two ethnic groups over fishing rights.
Defence lawyer Steve Omekongo told the BBC he would appeal against the death sentences.Â
Some 36 men were initially charged; four were acquitted and the rest were given prison terms.
Mbandaka is the capital of Equateur province, where at least 100 people were killed in clashes between the Lobala and Boba communities in 2009, displacing an estimated 200,000 people. (Sources: BBC, 19/05/2010)
|