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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Congo Court Jails Six over Deadly Ammo Dump Blasts |
| 2013-09-11 |
| [An Nahar] A court in the Republic of Congo ...which is not the same as the Democratic Republic of Congo... has jailed six soldiers and acquitted 26 others held responsible for explosions at an ammunition dump that killed nearly 300 people last year. Something happened in Brazzaville Congo? Who knew? The Brazzaville criminal court late Monday sentenced the chief defendant, Corporal Kakom Kouack Blood, to 15 years' hard labor on conviction of willfully setting fire to the ammunition depot of an armored division in the capital. On March 4, 2012, the explosions in the Mpila residential district killed 300 people, wounded more than 2,300 and left 17,000 homeless, according to an official toll. Some of those who lost their homes are still living in difficult conditions. The former deputy secretary general to the national security council, Colonel Marcel Tsourou, was sentenced to five years' hard labor for complicity in involuntary arson and for illegally possessing weapons of war. Colonel Germain Ikonga Akindou, former chief quartermaster of the Congolese Armed Forces (FAC), was sentenced to five years in jail and fined 120 million CFA francs (183,000 euros / $242,000). Three non-commissioned officers were each jailed for two years and fined 200,000 FCFA (300 euros). The charges against all 32 defendants included arson, breach of state security and illegal possession of weapons of war. Chief judge Mathurin Bayi acquitted 26 other defendants, including 19 soldiers and police officers. At the start of the trial, 30 defendants were in the dock, but charges were later laid against two more soldiers who appeared as witnesses and were then accused on the basis of their evidence. Both men were among those finally acquitted. |
| Posted by:Fred |