Congo-B: President dismisses nine magistrates but civil society wants more sanctions

[Illustrative image] Denis Sassou Nguesso. © AFP PHOTO / THIERRY CHARLIER

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In Congo-Brazzaville, the Head of State, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, dismissed nine magistrates during a meeting of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) that he chaired on 27 March 2023. The SJC did not specify the reasons for the referral. But civil society actors are calling for more to be done, particularly to fight corruption.

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With our correspondent in Brazzaville, Loïcia Martial

At the end of the ordinary session of the Superior Council of the Judiciary that he chaired on March 27, 2023, Congolese Head of State Denis Sassou-Nguesso dismissed, demoted and reprimanded several magistrates.

A total of nine of them were dismissed for reasons not specified by the Superior Council of the Judiciary. But without uttering the word, the head of state referred to corruption among senior judicial officials.

« The worm is in the fruit and we must destroy it »

«

The conclusion we draw is that there is the worm in the fruit. And we must destroy it. Perhaps not only in the justice sector, but in all sectors of the state," said the Congolese chief magistrate who, for years, has claimed that corruption plagues the country.

These statements provoked a reaction from Maixent Hanimbat Emeka, head of the Forum for Governance and Human Rights (FGDH). He calls on the president to do much more.

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As a civil society actor, I will not hypocrisy to shed crocodile tears over the fate of unscrupulous judges. Moreover, it must be said that beyond the judicial system, the worm that is in the fruit is in the administration with financial indelicacies, with electoral fraud. All this is linked, because magistrates are often called upon to cover up electoral fraud."

In 2018, seven magistrates were dismissed for "serious misconduct".

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In 2018, the Superior Council of the Judiciary dismissed seven magistrates for "serious misconduct". They were accused of obstructing the execution of certain court decisions, including the release of persons detained in the remand centre against payment, for their personal benefit.

► Read also: In Congo-Brazzaville, an NGO calls for "measures to clean up the security apparatus"

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Read on on the same topics:

• Congo
• Denis Sassou-Nguesso
• Justice
• Corruption
• Human rights