Possible summary executions during coup attempt in Democratic Republic of Congo

The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern on Monday about “alleged summary executions” after the “attempted coup d’état” that the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo said it had foiled on May 19 in Kinshasa, in calling for respect for “human rights and the rule of law”.

“The government has both a responsibility to ensure the security of the country and to hold those responsible for the attempted coup to account, based on international fair trial standards,” Lewis wrote in a statement. Mudge, director for Central Africa at HRW.

“The government’s response must be rights-respecting, which means impartially investigating the possible involvement of security forces in alleged summary executions,” he adds.

The press release from the human rights NGO mentions in particular “two videos recorded by Congolese soldiers and widely shared on social networks”.

One of them, filmed on the bank of the Congo River, shows soldiers shooting at two unarmed suspected putschists, including one who had jumped into the water “to try to escape”. In the images, a “pool of blood” appears, the man “no longer comes up to take his breath. A soldier shouts “He is dead”,” the press release details.

Congolese organizations, such as the citizen movement Lucha (Fight for Change) and the NGO Justicia Asbl, have also denounced these alleged extrajudicial executions.

On Sunday, May 19, at the end of the night, in the upscale district of Gombe, near the Congo River, armed men attacked the home of Vital Kamerhe, outgoing Minister of the Economy who has since become President of the National Assembly, before invest the Palace of the Nation, a historic building housing the offices of President Félix Tshisekedi.

According to the army, which spoke of a “coup attempt nipped in the bud”, around forty suspected putschists were arrested and four killed by the security forces, including their alleged leader, a certain Christian Malanga.

The latter was “a Congolese opponent based in the United States, self-proclaimed “president of New Zaire” and head of a government in exile,” indicates Human Rights Watch. The circumstances in which he was killed “remain to be clarified”, believes the NGO.

The events of May 19 took place “after a prolonged period during which the government considerably repressed the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of the media and peaceful assembly” recalls Human Rights Watch, for which “ human rights and the rule of law must prevail” after this alleged failed coup.

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