DRC: Judge Raphaël Yanyi killed by blows to the head, according to the Deputy Prime Minister

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The vagueness surrounding the death of judge Raphaël Yanyi Ovungu is beginning to dissipate. Died the night of May 26-27, Raphaël Yanyi Ovungu presided over the hearings of the Vital Kamerhe trial and his co-defendants as part of Félix Tshisekedi's emergency program. The results of two autopsies were released by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Célestin Tunda on Tuesday June 16.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi

Two autopsies were carried out , the second in the presence of a forensic doctor from Monusco. According to the reports of these examinations cited by Célestin Tunda, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, the judge suffered a hemorrhage.

“ Judge Yanyi died mainly as a result of the beatings he received which caused a head trauma. There was blood clotting in the skull. It is this situation that led to cardiac arrest and therefore death.  "

The family and some activists suspected death from poisoning. This is not the case, according to the minister: “  We discovered substances, non-lethal plants that were in the body. These substances are not the cause of death, but it is the blows that caused the death of the judge.  "

Several questions remain: when was the judge beaten? How had the family not noticed? In what condition had he arrived at his home, then at the hospital?

Deputy Prime Minister Célestin Tunda announces an investigation to determine the circumstances of what he called murder. He is expected to receive the family of the deceased this Wednesday.

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