The military court in Kinshasa has decided to seek the death penalty against five of the eight officers on trial for the assassination of the Human Rights activist Floribert Chebaya in June 2010. The three other defendants could each get twenty years in prison. Floribert Chebeya was found dead in his car after being seen for the last time at the premises of the General Inspectorate of Police.
Fidele Bazana his driver is still missing.
Mwilambue Paul, one of the policemen who had escaped, went to the Police Headquarters purportedly returning to work stating that he had nothing to do with the double murder of Floribert Chebeya and Fidele Bazana and that he had gone into hiding just because he was scared. He has since been imprisoned. There is no explanation yet on how the fugitive managed to return to Kinshasa from Rwanda where he had taken refuge. Nonetheless, this new developments have not affected the trial because he continues to be charged in absentia.
It appears that Chebeya died of suffocation with his hands and feet bound and his head covered in a plastic bag.
Five death sentences and three sentences of 20 years for each were sought although the death penalty is not applicable in the DRC.
Members of the civil society say that they have their reservations on how the case is being handled by the military court in Gombe. They said that the court encouraged impunity for it had no Judge who has the same rank as Gen. Nthumbi the main suspect. On the other hand, Chebeya’s wife, Marie-José Bazana, said that she was waiting for the body so as to bury her husband.
Reactions in the DRC and abroad
Floribert Chebeya's death has provoked strong reactions in the DRC and abroad. The UN expressed its satisfaction with the manner in which the DRC has handled Chebeya's case and says that this would go a long way in promoting democracy. After condemning the activist's murder, it welcomed the suspension of the police chief, Gen. Ntumbi
Joshua Marks, a program officer for Central Africa at National Endowment for Democracy, said that the DRC has taken an unmistakable turn towards autocratic rule.
Chebeya's murder has moved the government into motion to safeguard its citizens' basic rights by creating and committing to laws protecting journalists and human right defenders; to carrying out police and security sector reforms; to reducing and limiting executive power, among others. The government could also speed up the establishment of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI).
The Inter-African Union of Human Rights announced the establishment of a Pan-African human rights prize named in honor of Floribert Chebeya in acknowledgement of the work of this great defender of human rights..