A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday sentenced 51 people to death in a mass trial over the 2017 killing of two UN experts in a troubled central region, many of whom were absent.
Murder cases in the DRC often carry the death penalty, but this has been regularly commuted to life imprisonment since the country announced a moratorium on executions in 2003.
Dozens of people have been on trial for more than four years in a murder case that shocked diplomats and the aid community, though important questions about the episode remain unanswered.
Michael Sharp, an American, and Zaida Catalan, a Swedish-Chilean, disappear as they investigate violence in the butchery area after being hired by the United Nations to do so.
They were investigating mass graves linked to a bloody conflict that had erupted between the government and a local group.
Their bodies were found in a village on March 28, 2017, 16 days after their disappearance. Catalan was beheaded.
In 2016, there was unrest in the Kasai area, triggered by the killing of a local traditional chief, Kamuina Nasapu, by security forces.
Before the conflict ended in mid-2017, about 3,400 people were killed, and thousands fled their homes.
In the military court in Kananga, prosecutors had sought the death penalty against 51 of the 54 accused, 22 of whom are fugitives and are being tried in their absence.
The chargesheet ranged from “terrorism” and “murder” to “participation in a rebel movement” and “an act of war crime through perversion”.
According to the official version of events, the pair were killed on March 12, 2017, by Kamuina Naspu militiamen, the day they went missing.
But in June 2017, a report submitted to the United Nations Security Council described the killings as a “pre-planned setup” that could involve members of state security.
During the trial, prosecutors suggested that the militiamen had carried out the killings in revenge against the United Nations, which the sect accused of failing to prevent attacks against them by the military.
If so, those who allegedly ordered the act were not identified during the marathon proceedings.
Among the main accused was a colonel, Jean de Dieu Mmbweni, who prosecutors say was in collusion with the militiamen to provide them with ammunition. He has denied the allegations and his lawyers say the trial is a set-up.
Mambweni was originally among those to face the death penalty, but was instead sentenced to only 10 years in prison for “disobedience to orders and failure to assist a person in danger”. His defense team said it would appeal the decision.
Two more prisoners, including a journalist, were acquitted.
Saturday’s ruling is liable to appeal at the High Military Court in the DRC capital, Kinshasa.
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