Human Rights NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo have denounced impostor president Félix Tshisekedi and his secret state agents’ unlawful detention of opposition Ensemble Pour la Republique party leader Moïse Katumbi’s driver Tshetshe Kafutshi.
Kafutshi was arrested by Tshisekedi secret agents thugs on 2nd 0ctober, 2024 in Lubumbashi before being taken to a National Intelligence Agency (ANR) dungeon where he has been kept with no charges or reasons for his arrest indicated by the authorities.
His health is said to be deteriorating due to the inhumane living conditions at the ANR dungeon where he has been deprived of visits from his family and lawyers.
The Institute for Research in Human Rights (IRDH), the Center for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR), as well as JUSTICIA Asbl have since jointly written an open letter to Tshisekedi calling for the immediate release of Kafutshi.
Several members and allies of the opposition have been targeted by the Tshisekedi regime who have sworn to eliminate their opponents to remain in power.
The letter reads:
Mr President, This open letter serves to reiterate our plea for the release, in the absence of referral to the competent judicial jurisdiction of Mr. Kafutshi, arbitrarily arrested and illegally detained, since October 2, 2024 (32 days now), in the dungeons of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) from Lubumbashi.
Placement in isolation, with a ban on visits or woman, neither her lawyers nor her doctor, is instructed by the Head of Services of military intelligence (RensMil), attached to the Presidency, General- Major Ndaywel Okura Christian.
Excellency Mr President of the Republic, The Institute for Research in Human Rights (IRDH), the Center for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR), as well as JUSTICIA Asbl, recall their denunciation serious human rights violations contained in the report on the case Mulonde, published in Lubumbashi on October 29 and their joint press release of October 4, 2024. In short, the military intelligence services and the National Security Agency intelligence which operates under the orders of your Excellency, should not not resume their exploits of muzzling the political opposition.
The three NGOs admit to being greatly disturbed by the fact that the Union for Democracy and social progress (UDPS), your political party, seems to imitate the methods barbaric state management of previous regimes, notably the Movement Popular Revolution (MPR) of President MOBUTU and the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) of President KABILA.
According to democratic expectations, the three NGOs believe that your services do not should not:
1. Arrest Mr. Kafutshi, Driver, in place of Mr. Katumbi Chapwe Moïse, his boss. Because criminal responsibility is individual. The general principle of law according to which “No one can be prosecuted, arrested, detained or convicted for vicarious acts” is anchored in several international legal texts ratified by the DRC. In addition, it is registered in article 18 of the Constitution which aims to protect individual rights and to guarantee fair justice by avoiding unjustified prosecutions based on the facts of others.
2. Detain Mr. Kafusthi, isolated from all other detainees, with ban on visits from his wife, his lawyers, or his doctor. This detention violates articles 18 and 19 of the Constitution, the substance guarantees “the right to immediately enter into contact with its family or with their counsel” and “the right to have their case heard within a reasonable time by the competent judge.
3. The ANR should stop all forms of moral torture and physical. Mr. Kafutshi’s physical and mental health are seriously affected. initiated, in violation of the last paragraph of article 18 of the Constitution which stipulates that “Every prisoner must benefit from treatment which preserves his life, his physical and mental health as well as his dignity”. Excellency Mr. President of the Republic, Head of State; So that your services do not claim ignorance of the existence of these serious human rights violations; IRDH, CJR and JUSTICIA Asbl publish this open letter which urges you to put an end to this illegal detention which amounts to a hostage-taking.
