INTERNATIONAL ABOLITIONIST ORGANISATIONS REACT TO COMMENTS MADE BY THE SUPREME DEFENCE COUNCIL OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
In a press release broadcast on 05 February 2024 on the 8 p.m. edition of the national television news programme (RTNC), the Supreme Defence Council asked the Supreme Commander of the FARDC and the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to lift the moratorium on executions of death row prisoners, in force since 2003, particularly those accused of treason at the front.
Update – 12 February 2024 - On 9 February 2024, during the Council of Ministers, the Minister of State, Minister of Justice, presented an information note concerning the lifting of the moratorium and asked the government to take note of the request made by the Supreme Defence Council. The signatory organisations deplore this new step supporting this announcement.
The signatory organisations of this press release were shocked and dismayed to hear this request read out by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They condemn the dramatic consequences of a resumption of executions, should this proposal be implemented.
The signatory organisations point out that the application of the death penalty will have no effect on the ground apart from fuelling false and dangerous ideas that the death penalty could help put an end to the war and atrocities in the east of the DRC.
Justice and the re-establishment of the rule of law are essential pillars in the fight against impunity. The resumption of executions would mark a most regrettable step backwards, given the positive efforts made by the Congolese authorities to abolish the death penalty since the introduction of the moratorium in 2003.
Today, more than 800 people sentenced to death are held in Congolese prisons. In 2022, the courts handed down more than 163 death sentences. That same year, the country voted for the first time against the United Nations resolution calling for a universal moratorium on executions.
