DR Congo court frees presidential adviser accused of treason
A DR Congo court acquitted a former presidential adviser accused of treason and supporting armed rebels who have caused multiple killings.
A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday 22 August 2023 acquitted a former presidential adviser accused of treason and backing armed rebels; his lawyer told AFP.
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Fortunat Biselele, who was arrested at the start of the year and detained before being provisionally released on July 22, had also been charged with “contact with Rwanda”.
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THE COURT IN DR CONGO DECIDED
His lawyer, Richard Bondo, said the court in Kinshasa had “completely cleared him”. The affair blew up after a video appeared of Biselele talking about the economic ties between President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame.
Relations between the two neighbours, which appeared headed for normalisation when Tshisekedi took over in January 2019, have sharply deteriorated since the resurgence of the M23 militia in eastern DRC.
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The Tutsi-led M23 has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province, and in May, DR Congo accused Rwanda of planning an attack on the regional capital Goma.
More than one million people have been displaced since M23 took up arms again. UN experts have backed Kinshasa’s accusation that Rwanda has armed the rebels, which Kigali denies.
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JUDGES ARE NOT THERE FOR ENDORSEMENT
The court acquittal for Biselele was “a deserved victory because the case was just a settling of scores, and judges are not there to endorse this sort of thing”, Bondo said.
People close to Biselele branded the hearing a political trial. Several politicians and security figures in DR Congo stand accused of working with the enemy and have been detained at a tense time before presidential and parliamentary elections set for December 20.
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US-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday warned of a crackdown on the opposition amid “repression” and “intimidation”. Tshisekedi is running for a second five-year term.