DR Congo opposition calls for release of political prisoners at protest

Hundreds protested in front of Congo’s top court docket Wednesday to demand the release of political prisoners, including the nation’s three most famed opposition figures.

After the protest ended, representatives of opposition parties handed the minister of justice a statement accusing Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi of looking for to “muzzle the opponents” and “silence dissenting voices.”

The parties called for the release of Jean-Marc Kabund, chief of the Alliance for Change occasion; Mike Mukebayi, a former member of the provincial parliament for Together for the Republic; and Seth Kikuni, a candidate within the presidential elections last one year.

Kabund and Mukebayi agree with been arrested last one year for “insulting the head of state” and “spreading counterfeit rumors.”

Kabund was sentenced to seven years in penal advanced after he accused the president of corruption and embezzlement, whereas Mukebayi is at the 2d in penal advanced anticipating trial.

Both are held at the infamous Makala Central Jail, Congo’s largest penal advanced, which has a skill for 1,500 folks however holds greater than 12,000 inmates, most of whom predict trial.

Earlier this month, an attempted jailbreak at the penal advanced left 129 folks ineffective, including some who agree with been shot by guards and soldiers and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, fixed with authorities.

Kikuni was arrested earlier this month for “incitement of civil disobedience” and “spreading counterfeit rumors” and is at the 2d held by Congo’s intelligence company.

Final month, Congo announced its draw to practice for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

The resolution was heavily criticized by the opposition and various civil society organizations, including the Invoice Clinton Peace Foundation, which acknowledged Congo would not meet the stipulations needed to claim the kind of status of international responsibility and that the nation’s human rights fable would discredit the establishment.

The Human Rights Council opinions the human rights records of all nations periodically, appoints independent investigators to fable on disorders fancy torture, and sends truth-finding missions to investigate rights violations.

The council has been criticized since its creation in 2006 because of this of of some contributors’ uncomfortable rights records and claims that rights abusers explore seats to offer protection to themselves and their allies.

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