DRC military court sentences 51 to death over killing of two UN experts in 2017

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Saturday sentenced at least 51 people to death in a mass trial over the murder of two United Nations (UN) experts in 2017. Most of the accused were pronounced absentia. The verdict came after dozens were inculpated and remained under trial for more than four years over the killing of diplomats that rattled the aid-providing community.

It is to mention that 22 out of the 51 convicted were tried in absentia, The Guardian reported, citing prosecutors at the military court in Kananga. The charges against the offenders ranged f om terrorism to murder, "act of a war crime through mutilation" and "participation in an insurrection movement." The prosecutors suggested that the rebels carried out the brutal executions as revenge against the UN.

As per reports, the main accused was Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni, who colluded with militia and supplied them with weapons, according to the prosecutors. However, during the trial, Mambweni denied all charges against him, saying he has been falsely implicated. Despite being the key suspect, Mambweni has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for "disobeying orders and failure to assist a person in danger." On the other hand, two more detainees were acquitted.

Two UN diplomats executed ruthlessly in 2017

In 2017, Micheal Sharp and American envoy and Zaira Catalán, a Swedish-Chilean envoy hired by the UN to prove into mass graves case linked to a bloody conflict, between government and local rebels, were sent to DRC. However, the investigators disappeared from the Kasai region. Days later on March 28, 2017, their mutilated bodies were discovered in a village in the region. As per reports, Catalan was beheaded on March 12, 2017.

The murders took place during the unrest in DRC's Kasai after Security Forces heinously executed the local traditional chief of the Kamuina Nsapu armed group. Meanwhile, anti-Kabila protests erupted outside the University of Kinshasa. On December 19, 2016 Congolese security forces killed 19 civilians in Kinshasa, 6 in Boma, 5 in Matadi and 5 in Lubumbashi. As per UN, at least 113 were arrested between 17th and 19 December after protestors were attacked with water cannon tear gas. At least 3,400 people were killed in the year-long bloody conflict between Congolese officials and the local militia. Other tens of thousands were forced to leave their homes before the discord ended around mid-2017.

(Image: AP)