CONGO: SHOCK AT DEATH SENTENCES FOR MURDER OF UN RADIO JOURNALIST

Reporters Without Borders is stunned by the four death sentences imposed by a military court in the eastern city of Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the murder of UN radio journalist Serge Maheshe at the end of a trial riddled with absurdities. Two of the four people sentenced to death were close friends of Maheshe who were with him when he was gunned down on a Bukavu street on 13 June. "This insane verdict was based solely on the contradictory claims of two persons unknown to anyone, and was not supported by any material evidence or motive." Reporters Without Borders added: "The prosecution's scenario does not stand up, and the court itself recognised the continuing uncertainties. A new trial must be held before an independent court after a complete and thorough investigation." Two of the four persons sentenced to death, Freddy Bisimwa and Masasile Rwezangabo, were convicted of murder, while Maheshe's friends, Serge Mohima and Alain Shamavu, were convicted of "criminal association." The verdicts were based solely on "confessions" made by Bisimwa and Rwezangabo that they shot Maheshe at the behest of his two friends. No material evidence or motive was produced to support this claim. Two soldiers initially accused of being the killers were cleared of the murder although a witness recognised one during the re-enactment and although, as the court itself recognised, one of them deliberately destroyed the AK-47 assault rifle used in the murder, receiving a six-month sentence for "destruction of a weapon."