DRC: opponent Jean-Marc Kabund placed under house arrest
Jean-Marc Kabund, former vice-president of the National Assembly of the DR Congo.
© screenshot/Youtube.com
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
This placement comes after three nights in Makala central prison.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,
Pascal Mulegwa
The hearing took place behind closed doors between the detainee, his lawyers, the judges and the prosecutor.
It was short-lived.
The prosecutor wanted to keep the opponent in prison, arguing that the charges are serious.
The court did not follow him and decided to transform the detention into placement under house arrest.
"
The judges only applied the law
," said his lawyers, who said they were outraged by the detention of the deputy.
This house arrest comes with conditions that have not been disclosed.
After the hearing, Jean-Marc Kabund, all smiles, was taken back to prison.
He could leave her tomorrow, the time for the court registry to notify the prison administration of the judgment.
The opponent was charged with four counts, including insulting President Félix Tshisekedi, of whom he was the right arm.
Words he had made during a press briefing announcing his departure from the ruling camp for the radical opposition.
The public prosecutor's office at the Court of Cassation, which charged the deputy, also seized the Court for the start of the trial.
The date should be set in the next few days.
The opponent and declared presidential candidate next year faces up to five years in prison.
His defense says he is waiting for the trial on a firm footing.
Whatever their faults, whatever their offences, the deputies, we do not send them to prison, we send them to house arrest [...] All that is reproached to him is for having held the press conference as a dissident of the majority, having taken its independence.
Maître Ruffin Lukoo, lawyer for Jean-Marc Kabund
Pascal Mulegwa
His party, Alliance for Change, has constantly denounced the instrumentalization of institutions for the purpose of settling scores.
Opposition figures such as Martin Fayulu and Adolphe Muzito also castigated this arrest.
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