Foreign
A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sentenced an army colonel to death for his role in the killing of two United Nations (UN) experts in the country’s central Kasai region in 2017.
Col. Jean de Dieu Mambweni was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2022 for failing to assist persons in danger and disobeying orders.
However, military prosecutors appealed the judgment, arguing that he played a more significant role in the killings.
The High Military Court in Kinshasa upheld the appeal and on Friday convicted Mambweni of the war crime of murder, finding that he actively orchestrated the killings, he was subsequently sentenced to death.
Congo has not carried out executions since 2003, meaning the sentence is likely to be converted to life imprisonment.
The victims, UN experts Zaida Catalan of Sweden and Chile, Michael Sharp of the United States, were investigating reports of mass killings in the Kasai region when they were intercepted by fighters of the Kamuina Nsapu militia on March 12, 2017.
The pair were stopped near the village of Moyo-Musila, taken into the bush and shot dead,their bodies were recovered 16 days later.
The court also upheld death sentences imposed in 2022 on dozens of militia fighters convicted in connection with the case.
Investigators initially rejected claims that state agents were involved but later arrested Mambweni and several other officials accused of collaborating with the militia.
(Reuters/NAN)
W.U
June 9, 2026
Tags: Jean de Dieu Mambweni Michael Sharp Zaida Catalan