DRC: Eddy Kapend, sentenced for the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, soon free?
Colonel Eddy Kapend has been imprisoned for almost 20 years in the DRC for the assassination of Laurent Désiré Kabila (Illustrative image).
AFP - DESIREY MINKOH
Text by: RFI Follow
6 min
Sentenced to death in the context of the trial on the 2001 assassination of former President Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Eddy Kapend will benefit from a presidential pardon.
Ordinances were read that night.
Laurent-Désiré Kabila's ex-aide-de-camp spent more than 20 years behind bars.
Considered a political prisoner by several NGOs, Eddy Kapend has always claimed his innocence.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,
Patient Ligodi
This decision does not target just one prisoner.
It is a collective measure of grace.
Several dozen detainees who meet the criteria set by the judicial authorities are beneficiaries.
In one of the orders read on national television, it is said that any detainee who has already served 20 years of imprisonment may be eligible for a presidential pardon.
Eddy Kapend belongs to this category despite the fact that he has a few days left to total 20 years of detention.
The former aide-de-camp of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who was initially sentenced to death, had on June 30, 2020 his sentence be commuted to a sentence of penal servitude for life.
NGOs demand the reopening of the trial
Deputy Justice Minister Bernard Takahishe Ngumbi told RFI that Eddy Kapend will be leaving prison.
But he must first sign the necessary decrees following the presidential orders.
Anyone who had been convicted and who has already served a 20-year sentence is eligible for a presidential pardon.
However, he [Eddy Kapend editor's note] is in this criterion there of people who had already served their sentence of 20 years.
He is therefore eligible for this presidential pardon.
Congolese Deputy Justice Minister Bernard Takahishe Ngumbi on pardon for Eddy Kapend
Patient Ligodi
This case is far from over.
According to several human rights NGOs, the truth about the perpetrators of this assassination is not yet known and justice has not yet been done.
For example, the Voix des sans Voix has always called for the reopening of this trial.
We absolutely must reopen this trial so that the real perpetrators of this assassination of a President of the Republic in full exercise of his functions answer effectively for their actions.
Rostin Manketa, Executive Director of the Voix des Sans Voix
Patient Ligodi
►Also listen: Archives d'Afrique - Portrait of Laurent-Désiré Kabila (1/12)
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