A former aide to the late Congolese President Laurent-Desire...

A former aide to the late Congolese President Laurent-Desire Kabila, Colonel Eddy Kapend, was sentenced to death for killing the president. Twenty-five other defendants received the death penalty from a military court in Kinshasa for their role in Kabila's assassination. Another 45 were set free. There is no appeal against judgements handed down by the special court. But lawyer Pierre Mpelekwa told the French news agency, AFP, that the sentence cannot be carried out without the approval of the head of state. Colonel Kapend's lawyer Franck Mulenda told the BBC that he was pursuing various options, including a request to have the sentence quashed or a presidential pardon. The prosecutor, Colonel Charles Alamba, had recommended the death penalty for 115 of the 135 defendants. After sitting for nine months, Kinshasa's military court upheld the findings of an earlier official inquiry, which said the late president had been shot dead by one of his bodyguards as part of a wider coup plot. Colonel Kapend, Laurent Kabila's right-hand man, was found guilty of having been the mastermind and, along with several other members of the late president's security team, are now waiting to see if the current head of state and Laurent Kabila's son, Joseph, will pardon them. When the trial opened in 2002, human rights organisations said many of those on trial were clearly not involved in the events surrounding the assassination. They included the wife of the bodyguard, Rashidi, and the family members and friends of other key suspects. Human rights organisations alleged some had been tortured and they deplored the fact most of the suspects had been in prison in a special block.