|
Soldiers in dock for murder
16/06/2007 08:55 - (SA)
Bukavu - Two Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers went on trial before a military court hours after being arrested for the murder of a prominent radio journalist, an official said on Friday.
Sud-Kivu provincial governor Celestin Cibalonza said Corporal Katuzelo Mbo and Sergeant Arthur Bokongo Lokombe had been arrested by police 40m from where Serge Maheshe, a 31-year journalist working for the UN-sponsored Okapi radio station, was shot dead on Wednesday.
Their guns had been recently fired, he alleged, adding that their trial which began late on Thursday was permitted under military law.
A local media rights group, Journalists in Danger (JED), condemned the summary trial, saying that no serious inquiry had been made or ballistic expertise sought by the authorities.
Two friends present when Maheshe was shot told the court they could not identify the killers as it had been too dark.
UN chief 'shocked'
Reporters without Borders (RSF) also expressed concern, saying it was "surprised" by the speed of the proceedings and the conditions in which the trial was being held.
"We can be pleased at the swiftness of the inquiry, but the precipitation with which military justice has presented the two suspects is more than surprising," it said in a statement in Kinshasa.
It criticised the lack of proper questioning, the lack of a right to a defence and the absence of witness protection and said the case did not look like a credible legal procedure.
"We were thinking that the killing of Serge Maheshe was sufficiently tragic for the DRC authorities to take it seriously. There is still time to make sure it does not turn into a charade," RSF said.
It said that shortly before he was murdered Maheshe had said he was threatened after being "briefly arrested and brutalised by two members of the presidential guard".
Maheshe ran Okapi in Bukavu in the east of DR Congo and had been threatened by various groups, including the military, for his outspoken reporting.
His murder by two men in plain clothes was widely condemned, including by the UN, the Swiss Hirondelle Foundation which partners the UN mission in Congo in operating the Okapi station, and European Union ambassadors.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday expressed shock and sadness over the murder and offered full UN support for the arrest of perpetrators.
Witnesses told AFP Maheshe and another man had been visiting a friend and was climbing into his UN-marked vehicle when he was shot by two men with automatic rifles.
- SAPA
|
News
