Parole for Vital Kamerhe. The Court of Cassation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) decided on Monday, December 6, 2021 to release provisionally and on bail the former chief of staff of President Félix Tshisekedi, sentenced to thirteen years in prison for embezzlement of public funds, according to the report. state television, RTNC.
“Vital Kamerhe enjoys provisional release granted by the Court of Cassation on Monday”, a decision motivated by “the very critical medical picture” of the concerned, wrote state television RTNC on its Twitter account, citing the communication unit of this jurisdiction. “Vital Kamerhe must pay a deposit of 500,000 dollars” before leaving prison, the source said.
“We are waiting for this decision to be served on him before confirming anything”, reacted to AFP Me Jean-Marie Kabengela, his lawyer. Justice has refused more than ten times to grant provisional release to this ally of President Tshisekedi.
Vital Kamerhe, 62, was sentenced in April 2020 to twenty years in prison for embezzling nearly $ 50 million allocated to the construction of prefabricated houses for soldiers and police, as part of a program that was to launch the tenure of President Tshisekedi. The sentence of the former president of the National Assembly was reduced to 13 years in prison on appeal in June 2021. During the hearings, his lawyers denounced “a political trial to prevent him from running in 2023”.
Vital Kamerhe had withdrawn in favor of Félix Tshisekedi at the end of the presidential campaign in 2018 and, according to an agreement between the two men, was to be a candidate for the next election scheduled for 2023. Congolese law does not allow people condemned for acts of corruption to compete in a presidential election.
The Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ), which closely follows this case, estimated in a tweet that the court of cassation “created in a legal scandal”.
URGENT: By granting the freedom of provisional to Vital KAMERHE, however seized as jurisdiction of control of conformity of the decision of appeal to the law, the Court of Cassation created A JUDICIAL SCANDAL! A detailed press release will be published shortly. @KapiambaGeorges
– ACAJ (@acajasbl) December 6, 2021
For Georges Kapiamba, the president of the association, “this release is a serious blow to the project of the fight against corruption advocated by the Head of State”, reports Radio Okapi.