Amnesty International called on Democratic Republic...

Amnesty International called on Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to commute the death sentences passed on 26 people for their alleged role in the assassination of President Laurent Kabila in January 2001. "The defendants clearly did not receive a fair trial, and to execute them would be a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the DRC is a party." Amnesty International said. The organisation said the 135 defendants were not given adequate time to prepare their defence and were only able to meet their lawyers for the first time on the trial's opening day. The presiding judges were all members of the military or the security services with little or no legal training. Amnesty International said the death sentences violated a personal commitment made by Kabila to the UN Commission for Human Rights in March 2001 to retain the moratorium until parliament had had time to debate abolition of the death penalty.