UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello voiced concern...

UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello voiced concern over the death sentences against 30 people for involvement in the killing of president Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was in the DRC as part of his first field mission since taking over the job in September 2002. "The High Commissioner has expressed concern over the sentences and asked the government to reconsider its decision to lift the moratorium that it had applied on the execution of the death penalty," spokesman Jose Luis Diaz told reporters in Geneva. Vieira de Mello met DRC President Joseph Kabila earlier in the day, and Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu on January 13, he added. Two special rapporteurs of the UN Commission on Human Rights also jointly expressed serious concern about the death sentences, handed down by a military court on January 7. Asma Jahangir, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and special rapporteur on the human rights in DRC, Iulia-Antoanella Motoc, also voiced concern at reports alleging that 15 people had been executed recently, some of whom reportedly had been convicted by a military tribunal. "According to information received by the special rapporteurs, the trials conducted by the military tribunals were seriously flawed and unfair," a UN written statement said. Both rapporteurs urged the DRC government and President Kabila to reinstate the moratorium on executions, which was lifted on September 23, 2002.