Late former DRC Transport Minister driver Papy Nkanga has been released on parole after three months in custody following a decision taken by the Prosecutor’s Office at the Gombe High Court.
On Tuesday 3rd October, resolved to release Nkanga but placed him under judicial control while late Okende’s bodyguard Nico Kabund remains in custody.
The court have extended Kabund’s detention for a further 15 days with the defense counsel Jules Bongombe stressing that the rights of his clients had not been respected for the length of the period they have spent in detention.
Bongombe quoted Article 19 of the DRC constitution which guarantees every citizen the right to be legally represented by a lawyer of their choice.
Cherubin Okende, a former Transport and spokesperson for opposition Ensemble Pour la Republique President Moïse Katumbi, was brutally murdered on 13th July after being kidnapped by unknown people with his lifeless body found in the outskirts of Kinshasa.
An autopsy was carried on 3rd August 2023 by a joint-collaboration of Belgian and South African experts in the presence of the United Nations Observer Mission for the Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) as well as members of Okende’s family.
The results showed that Okende had been shot multiple times leading to his demise.
However, there has been little development in the case with results of the investigation still awaited as the deceased statesman’s family grows impatient over the continued delays.
