DR Congo: Key trial highlights the plight of human rights defenders

GENEVA / KINSHASA (17 November 2009) – As a UN report on the judicial process following the assassination of a Congolese journalist was published Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “to guarantee the protection of lawyers and human rights defenders, including journalists, to allow them to perform freely their duty, without risk of interference, discrimination, threat or reprisal.”

 

The new report* produced jointly by the UN peacekeeping force in DRC (known as MONUC) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, covers the appeal proceedings linked to the assassination of Serge Maheshe, a Congolese journalist and UN national staff member. It highlights the plight of human rights defenders and makes a number of recommendations to the Congolese authorities and the International Community.

 

Maheshe was killed on 13 June 2007 in Bukavu in South Kivu Province. Following this assassination, lower court trial proceedings were held before the Tribunal Militaire de Garnison of Bukavu (Military Garrison Court) and appeal proceedings were held before the South Kivu Military Court.

 

During its observation of the appeal proceedings, the UN Joint Office for Human Rights (UNJHRO)** noted that the guarantees for a just and fair trial were not respected by the South Kivu Military Court. In spite of some positive elements, the process was generally marked by irregularities similar to those observed during the lower court trial, namely:

 

· the Military Court’s refusal to investigate other credible leads and motives likely to shed more light on Maheshe’s murder;
· the persistent inadequacies in the criminal inquiry;
· the absence of an independent and impartial inquiry into subornation charges brought against two military magistrates;
· a climate of intimidation and threats against the defence lawyers and observers of the lawsuit;

 

The UNJHRO report concludes that the judicial process was “interspersed with several irregularities suggesting that the judiciary authorities lack the will to establish the truth regarding Serge Maheshe’s assassination” and notes that “certain violations noticed in the Maheshe case are frequently observed in other trials before military courts.”

 

Amongst its recommendations, the UNJHRO report urges the Congolese authorities to guarantee the protection of lawyers and human rights defenders, including journalists, by adopting laws and taking into account international norms to that effect. It also exhorts the Government to “publicly condemn assassinations and other serious violations of human rights perpetrated against human rights defenders, as recommended on 3 June 2009 by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.”

 

UNJHRO asks the Congolese authorities “to ensure the independence of the judicial power, including the military judiciary, by eliminating any undue influence” and “to amend the legislation on military courts by restricting their jurisdiction to only offences committed by the military or the police.”

 

Echoing the report, the High Commissioner urged the International Community to help reinforce technical and logistical support to the Congolese judicial institutions and operational capacity building for all the members of the judiciary, civilian and military.

 

“We all must pursue, with the Congolese political and judiciary authorities, the independence and integrity of justice, the strict compliance with the principle of the right to a fair trial,” Pillay said, “as well as the adoption of a law for the protection of human rights defenders, including journalists, that complies with relevant international norms.”

 

(*) Full report
English: http://www2.ohchr.org/SPdocs/Countries/RapportMaheshe_en.doc
French: http://www2.ohchr.org/SPdocs/Countries/RapportMaheshe_fr.doc

 

(**) The United Nations Joint Office for Human Rights (UNJHRO), created on 27 April 2006, consists of the Human Rights Division of the Mission of the United Nations Organisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (OHCHR DRC).

 

ENDS

 

For more information about this report, please contact Elisabeth da Costa
(Tel.: + 41 22 928 93 97 / e-mail: edacosta@ohchr.org)

 

OHCHR Country Page - The Democratic Republic of the Congo: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AfricaRegion/Pages/ZRIndex.aspx