CCPR/C/130/D/2731/2016
gouvernementales des droits de l’homme de la République Démocratique du Congo
(National Network of Human Rights NGOs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
(RENADHOC) sent a letter signed by 75 Congolese human rights defenders to President
Joseph Kabila, asking him to take steps to expedite the process. On 23 August 2008,
RENADHOC sent a letter to the Congolese judicial authorities requesting that the legal
proceedings be reopened.
2.12 On 29 August 2008, the South Kivu Military Court declined jurisdiction on the
grounds that one of the defendants, Vice-Governor D.K.K., was subject to the jurisdiction of
the Supreme Court, and it referred the case to the Supreme Court. However, according to
conflicting information gathered by the authors, while this decision implied that the case
would immediately be transferred to the Supreme Court, it was actually first transferred to
the Military High Court. Only in 2009 was the case referred by the Chief Military Prosecutor
attached to the Military High Court to the Prosecutor General of the Republic attached to the
Supreme Court.
2.13 In the years that followed, a number of initiatives were taken, in the form of letters,
petitions, press releases and public campaigns, to condemn the irregularities in the judicial
proceedings in Pascal Kabungulu’s case and to call on the authorities to act promptly in order
to expedite the proceedings with a view to uncovering the truth about the murder, finding the
perpetrators and making sure that they were given an independent and fair trial.6 Throughout
2015, the authors made many efforts to locate the case file and move the process forward.
Despite interviews with officials of the Military High Court 7 and the other bodies involved,
and letters sent by TRIAL International and Déborah Kitumaini’s counsel to the national
authorities,8 no file concerning the murder of Pascal Kabungulu was found.
2.14 Ten years after Pascal Kabungulu was killed, the family still has not obtained truth
and justice or any form of reparation for the harm suffered. The circumstances of his death
remain unresolved and the presumed perpetrators and instigators of his murder are still at
liberty. All members of the family have suffered psychological trauma as a result of the
events described. To this day, the authors live in fear of reprisals and are afraid that their
attackers will reappear at any moment.
2.15 The authors argue that: (a) all available measures have been taken to exhaust domestic
remedies; (b) the application of these remedies has been unreasonably prolonged, since the
murder of Pascal Kabungulu remains unpunished 10 years after it was committed and the
complaint was filed; (c) these remedies have proved ineffective and objectively have no
chance of success, since the authorities continue to take no action and it is impossible to
locate and gain access to the case file; and (d) it is dangerous for the authors to pursue
domestic remedies because they fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo after being
subjected to intimidation and threats by the suspected perpetrators of the murder of Pascal
Kabungulu.
6
7
8
4
On 29 July 2010, 30 July 2011 and 31 July 2012, RENADHOC sent letters to the President of the
Republic, the Supreme Court, the Military High Court, the Prime Minister and the Senate of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo requesting that the trial for the murder of Pascal Kabungulu be
reopened. On 26 June 2013, the Canadian Centre for International Justice sent a letter to the Minister
of Justice and Human Rights condemning the irregularities in the investigation and judicial
proceedings in Pascal Kabungulu’s case and calling on the Minister to act promptly in order expedite
the proceedings.
Visits by TRIAL International to the Military High Court on 25 and 26 March and 21 and 22 May
2015, and to the Office of the Chief Military Prosecutor and the Office of the Prosecutor General of
the Republic from 23 to 25 November 2015; and visit by Déborah Kitumaini’s counsel to the Office
of the Prosecutor General of the Republic on 22 June 2015.
Letter of 11 June 2015 to the Office of the Chief Military Prosecutor in Kinshasa; letter of 28 June
2015 to the President of the Military High Court; letter of 2 August 2015 to the Prosecutor General of
the Republic; and letters of 9 November 2015 to the National Human Rights Commission and to the
Minister of Justice and Human Rights.
GE.21-00792