Congo's former colonial ruler Belgium called for President...

Congo's former colonial ruler Belgium called for President Joseph Kabila to annul death sentences dished out on January 7 to those found guilty of murdering his father. A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced around 30 people to death for their alleged role in the assassination of President Laurent Kabila, who was shot and killed by a bodyguard in his palace in January 2001. "I have officially petitioned President Joseph Kabila, so that these executions do not take place," Belgium's Foreign Minister Louis Michel told reporters during an official visit to the vast, mineral-rich central African nation. "It's up to Joseph Kabila to see what he can do, because these executions will pose a moral problem for Congo's partners," said Michel, also Belgium's vice premier. But Joseph Kabila's spokesman said the Congolese leader did not want to interfere in the court's decision. "People need to recognise that in the Democratic Republic of Congo there is a separation of power between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of the government," spokesman Mulegwa Zihindula told Reuters. "We are waiting for the state prosecutor, and defence lawyers to make their final report before seeing what happens next," he said. Official court documents have not yet been published, but Kinshasa-based human rights organisation ASADHO has named 30 out of 135 defendants as facing the death penalty, 10 of whom have fled the country. Reporters in court had counted 26 condemned. Among those condemned was Colonel Eddy Kapend, the late president's closest personal aide, who was found guilty of masterminding the failed attempt to seize power. The condemned have no right to appeal, but defence lawyers said they were asking the president for clemency. Human rights groups, which have slammed the trial as unfair, also called for Kabila to commute the death sentences.