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| Africa Subsaharan |
| DR Congo Soldiers Sentenced for Sexual Violence |
| 2013-12-23 |
| [An Nahar] About a dozen soldiers have been convicted of sexual violence and murder in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... , where government troops have battled to clamp down on several gangs, a local justice official said Sunday. The latest convictions including death penalties were handed down on Saturday. Since December 2, a total of 19 people -- 15 soldiers and four civilians -- have gone on trial in Sake, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Goma, the capital of restive North Kivu province. The civilians were accused of "participating in an insurrectional movement" for supporting two local militias, said Christophe Ndibeshe, the provincial justice minister, adding that only one defendant has been acquitted. "Among the remaining 18, four have received death sentences and the others jail terms of between seven to 15 years," Ndibeshe told Agence La Belle France Presse. He said two soldiers got death sentences for sexual violence -- one for rape and the other for having taken part in the rape of a four-year-old girl. Capital punishment was also handed down to another soldier who killed his bodyguard and to a civilian for his involvement in the insurgency. Ndibeshe said some of the soldiers were convicted for violent acts committed in Sake in November 2012, when the Congolese army stopped the advance on Goma by the now-defunct M23 rebel movement. In Goma, another trial has been under way of some 30 soldiers, including officers, accused of war crimes and rape in 2012 in the Minova region of South Kivu province. A United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... investigation said "135 cases of sexual violence, as well as other serious human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... violations including murders and massive looting (were) perpetrated by the soldiers" between November 20 and 30 in and around the city of Minova. |
| Posted by:Fred |