Congolese pastor Joseph Mukungubila in exile and his followers saw their heavy sentences canceled for their attacks in 2013 in several cities across the country, after the suspension by President Félix Tshisekedi of military justice rulings against this former candidate for the presidential election and fierce opponent of Joseph Kabila.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
The judgments were not reviewed or overturned by the high military court, but suspended by an order from the president. Sentenced to death in absentia in 2015, a sentence confirmed on appeal last June, Congolese pastor Joseph Mukungubila benefits with his followers from a political act two months before the general elections.
Exiled in South Africa, Joseph Mukungubila was sentenced to death, after being considered instigator of attacks which had left several dozen dead in the cities of Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Kolwezi as of December 30, 2013. Heavy prison sentences had also been handed down to around thirty of its followers. Their lawyer Guy Mbuya hopes that they will be released after administrative formalities.
This relaxation, according to the latter, is the rest of the New Year’s Eve agreements, concluded in 2017 between the government and the opposition under the presidency of Joseph Kabila. But their application was selective: “ He is the only compatriot who remained in exile, everyone had returned. In the New Year’s Eve agreements, it was General Munene, then it was the Prophet Joseph Mukungumbila.summarizes Guy Mbuya. The first thing, the ordinance was read before we talk about the one who is in exile, let’s first see the release of those who are in Ndolo “.
In political circles, it is considered that this decision was taken for electoral purposes, particularly for the Katanga region, stronghold of Joseph Mukungubila, known for his diatribes against Rwanda. The region is also the stronghold of former president Joseph Kabila and opponent Moïse Katumbi.
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