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  • The European Union on Tuesday threw its weight behind calls for DR Congo to reopen a high-profile case involving the murder of a leading human rights activist. The body of campaigner Floribert Chebeya was found in his car on the outskirts of the capital Kinshasa in June 2010. Chebeya, head of a group called Voice for the Voiceless (VSV), had been called to the police station the previous day -- his driver took him there for the appointment but subsequently went missing and is suspected to have been killed. Five policemen were later convicted of Chebeya's death, three of them in absentia. Interest in the case has been revived by new evidence from two policemen who are living abroad, Hergil Ilunga and Alain Tayeye. They told the French radio station RFI that they had taken part in the killing and said it had been orchestrated by the head of DR Congo's police force, General John Numbi. They also said they knew where the remains of his driver, Fidele Bazana, were buried. In a post on Twitter, the EU's ambassador in Kinshasa, Jean-Marc Chataigner, paid tribute to "this piece of fact-finding journalism." "I hope Congolese justice can use the testimony to relaunch proceedings," he said. The case, which was heard by a military court, called in Numbi as an "informant." But he was not charged with any offence, despite allegations from civilian plaintiffs, which he denied, that he had set up the meeting with Chebeya at the police station that night. Numbi was suspended shortly after the murder. He was placed under US and European sanctions in December 2016 for a police crackdown on protests in the region of Bas Congo in 2008 that according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed more than 200 lives. But in 2017, he was given an award by the then president, Joseph Kabila, a move that incensed campaign groups. The following year, he was appointed armed forces inspector general, but Kabila's successor, Felix Tshisekedi, replaced him last July. VSV's executive secretary, Rostin Manketa, said "the shocking new testimony" gave grounds for Numbi's immediate arrest and for murder sites to be secured. Jean-Claude Katende, of the African Association for Human Rights, also called on the Democratic Republic of Congo's authorities to "secure these two witnesses" in the light of their testimony. bmb/mbb/ri/mjs
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  • EU joins call to reopen case of murdered DR Congo rights activist
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