APA-Nairobi (Kenya) With repression and harassment on the increase in the Democratic Republic of Congo, civil society organizations on Monday sent an open letter to President Joseph Kabila calling for an independent inquiry into the killing of renowned activist, Floribert Chebeya Bahizire – and an end to the intimidation and murder of Congolese human rights defenders.
Signed by more than 70 organizations, the letter urges President Kabila, who is also the outgoing Chair of SADC, to establish a credible, impartial and independent commission of inquiry to investigate Chebeya’s death – and the simultaneous disappearance of his driver, Fidele Bazana Edadi.
“The official investigation has achieved almost nothing and bears all the hallmarks of a cover-up rather than any real attempt to uncover the truth,” said Hubert Tshiswaka, DRC Advocacy Manager at the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA) said a statement issued in Nairobi.
Chebeya was the President of the ‘Voice of the Voiceless for Human Rights’ and had been an activist for the past 20 years, exposing human rights abuses in the Congo, particularly those perpetrated by the police and security forces.
On June 2, he was found dead in his car in Kinshasa with his hands tied behind his back – the day after he had been summoned to meet the head of the Congolese National Police, General John Numbi. Bazana, who drove him to that fateful meeting, has never been seen since.
While several officers have been detained in connection with the case and General Numbi has been suspended, the official investigation has been slow, confused and deeply flawed.
The case has also been transferred to the military justice system – making it even less likely that real justice will ever be done, said the statement.
“An independent inquiry will help to end the culture of impunity – and save the lives of other brave activists," added Tshiwaka.
At least 15 human rights defenders, including nine journalists, have been killed in the DRC in the past five years. Few of these cases have been satisfactorily resolved.
