DR Congo MP Sentenced To Death Over Treason Charges

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo Friday sentenced MP Edouard Mwangachuchu to death for treason and involvement with the M23 rebel movement, a verdict his lawyer denounced as based on “ethnic hatred“.

The death penalty is often handed down in the DR Congo, but has not been applied for 20 years and is systematically commuted to life imprisonment.  

Mwangachuchu, who was not present at the sentencing, was found guilty of “illegal possession of weapons and munitions of war,” as well as “treason” and “participation in the M23 insurrectionary movement,” said presiding judge General Robert Kalala.

The public prosecutor had in August requested life imprisonment for Edouard Mwangachuchu, 70, who represents the Masisi constituency in the national assembly and also owns a mining company.

The Tutsi-led M23 militia has captured swathes of territory in the DR Congo’s North Kivu province since reemerging from dormancy in 2021.

Independent UN experts, the Kinshasa government and several Western nations including the United States and France accuse Rwanda of actively backing the M23.

Kigali strongly denies the charge.

Taken in for questioning in early March, Mwangachuchu was first held in Kinshasa’s main prison Makala, before being transferred to the Ndolo military prison where the 30 or so hearings in his trial were held.

His co-defendant Robert Muchamalirwa, a police captain prosecuted for “violation of orders”, was acquitted by the court which ordered his immediate release.

Mwangachuchu’s lawyer said he will appeal the verdict, calling it a trial “based on ethnic hatred and deductions”.

Thomas Gamakolo said that it had never been proven that Mwangachuchu had links with Rwanda and was presumed guilty because he belonged to the Tutsi ethnic group.

“It is very difficult today in our country to live or exist as a Tutsi,” the lawyer said.

Credit: AFP

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