Leading opposition Ensemble pour la République president Moïse Katumbi has castigated President Félix Tshisekedi after the arrest of a fellow opposition president Franck Diongo describing the circumstances as banditry.
Katumbi, who is also being targeted for arrest on trumped up charges by the Tshisekedi regime so that he does not contest the December 20, 2023 polls, says it was unacceptable to arrest people for pursuing their political rights.
Diongo was arrested on Tuesday by men in uniform in the capital Kinshasa without charge and for no apparent reasons with his lawyer revealing that the MLP president is being held at Camp Tshatshi.
Katumbi, the former Katanga governor, says the process of arresting Diongo is pure kidnapping based on tribalist reasons.
He said Diongo’s arrest has cast doubts on Congo’s democracy which has been plummeting every day.
“The open abduction of Franck Diongo is an intolerable act of pure banditry. Every day, it is Democracy that is being murdered in the DRC! Those who thhink they are above the people will not resist the people’s desire for change,” said Katumbi.
Katumbi’s special advisor, Salomon Kalonda Della, is also behind bars on trumped up charges.
Kalonda, who has clocked over 20 days at a military location in Kinshasa, is falsely accused of collaborating with Rwanda rebels with the view of overthrowing Tshisekedi.
