This time the police custody concerns the driver of Chérubin Okende, reports our correspondent in Kinshasa. Pascal Mulegwa.
If we stick to the story provided by the prime suspectAs the former minister approaches the Supreme Court, he is alone at the wheel of his jeep with his bodyguard: the driver had been sent to visit family. THE The deputy was then alone during the actas he sends the bodyguard to deposit the correspondence at the Supreme Court premises.
So far, only the bodyguard has confirmed that his boss parked in the parking lot, and the judiciary has just opened a witness call.
The judicial inquiry is currently being examined by the Kinshasa-Gombe High Court, although the crime was committed with a firearm. The government has decided to involve all security services and investigators are trying to clarify the circumstances of his disappearance a few hours before his body is discovered. A call was also launched to find witnesses who were in the vicinity of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.
Belgian and South African investigators were called in as reinforcements
The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (BCNDUH), which is regularly requested by the judicial authorities, has not yet received a request for its expertise, particularly in forensic medicine. The BCNDUH said it was following the case “very closely” since Chérubin Okende’s disappearance.
The Congolese authorities have asked foreign countries for support. The investigators should also receive reinforcements from “friendly” countries, as government spokesman Patrick Muyaya reported on Thursday: A renewed request from the Council of Ministers this Friday.
A source familiar with the matter now points to the involvement of Belgian and South African investigators. The information was confirmed by a Belgian diplomatic source, who added that Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has agreed to assist the DRC in the investigation while awaiting further information on the modalities of that assistance.
Congo bishops call for ‘accountability’ of ‘political parties’
Among the many reactions provoked by this crime, the Bishops’ Conference of the Congo (Cenco) is dismayed by an unspeakable murder. She also deplored the appalling political climate and called on the political parties to take responsibility, in particular “in connection with the preparations for the elections”.
For the bishops’ spokesman Donatien Nshole, “fanatical speeches can do a lot”, so the “leaders of political parties” must “educate their activists in a much more sporty way”.
Civil society demands a credible and comprehensive investigation. The New Congolese Civil Society (NSCC) asks to join this commission of inquiry in order not to make the same mistakes as in the past: Jonas Tshiomela, coordinator of the NSCC, recalls the case of Floribert Chebeya, human rights activist and founder of the Voice of the Voiceless, who was murdered in June 2010 under similar circumstances.
Jonas Tshiomela, coordinator of the New Congolese Civil Society, calls for a multi-stakeholder survey because “several surveys have been announced in our country, but we never had the results.” More than 10 years after Floribert Chebeya’s death, we still do not have a complete one Information about his death and the investigation was launched.
The Congolese Association for Access to Justice (Acaj) has announced that it is launching a citizen inquiry into the “observed deficiencies in the response of security services” between the announcement of Cherubin Okende’s disappearance and the discovery of his body, as explained by Master Georges Kapiamba , the President of Acaj.
Maitre Georges Kapiamba, the president of Acaj, asks “why there was no mobilization” of the authorities once the “broadcast about his disappearance” was broadcast.