President Felix Tshisekedi’s special agents have allegedly tortured the bodyguard of slained opposition spokesperson Chérubin Okende in a bid to elicit a confession that his death was orchestrated by popular opposition leader Moise Katumbi.
Okende, the opposition Ensemble pour la République, spokesperson was found dead in his car on the morning of July 13, 2023, less than 24 hours after he was kidnapped at the premises of the Constitutional Court.
It’s now over 10 days since the assassination of Okende with no tangible investigation by President Tshisekedi’s government being initiated.
Information availed by intelligence agents reveal that Okende’s bodyguard who is also his brother-in-law, Nico Kabunda Tambi, has been subjected to torture by the police.
The office state that Kabunda is being tortured with the aim of being forced to confess to having killed Okende and admit that he was hired by Katumbi who is president of Ensemble.
But the police have drawn a blank as Kabunda has categorically refused to implicate Katumbi and pleaded innocent in the murder of Okende.
The police are also holding Okende’s driver Papy Ndaka who is also enduring abuse at the hands of the police.
The Congolese police are now looking for Okende’s Director of Cabinet Théo Binamungu who during the misfortune was camped in Goma for election campaigns but has since returned to Kinshasa to mourn his boss.
Observers say the DR Congo is enduring a bad patch under the leadership of Tshisekedi who is abusing the instruments of power to eliminate his political opponents.
The situation has attracted strong reservations from Tshisekedi’s partners in the American government who through the State Department have warned of severe consequences to the Congolese leadership should the human rights abuses observed so far persists.
