DRC asks Zimbabwe to extradite General John Numbi

General John Numbi while he was chief of police in Kinshasa in June 2011. AFP - JUNIOR KANNAH

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In the DRC, General John Numbi, former chief of police and general inspectorate of the armed forces, is actively wanted by the military justice of his country.

Kinshasa requested on Thursday, we learned on Friday, his extradition to the Zimbabwean authorities in connection with the case of the assassination of Floribert Chebeya and Fidèle Bazana. 

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa

,

Pascal Mulegwa

We believed him in Zambia, a moment announced in South Africa or even in Tanzania … John Numbi finally stays in Zimbabwe, according to military justice.

Under European and American sanctions for human rights violations, this ex-close to the former regime of Joseph Kabila had fled last year after new developments in the trial on

the assassination in 2010 of the human rights defender of the man Floribert Chebeya and his collaborator Fidèle Bazana.

The letter from the head of Congolese diplomacy Christophe Lutundula was received on Friday at the Zimbabwean embassy in Kinshasa.

The Deputy Prime Minister asks the diplomatic representation to send the rogatory commission and the international arrest warrant against John Numbi to the Interpol office in Harare.

Another warrant was issued in 2021 and issued in particular to the Zambian authorities when John Numbi was suspected of staying there, but this warrant had not been executed, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Several charges

Kinshasa relies on its good relations with Harare for a flawless execution.

The general was mainly wanted for the Chebeya case in which he was presented as the main sponsor of the double murder. 

But

after searches in his residences,

whether in Kinshasa or Lubumbashi, the general auditor of the armed forces wants to hear him on other charges.

These include, according to several legal sources, the

illegal possession of weapons and munitions of war,

association of criminals, desertion abroad and violation of instructions.

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