DRC charges key 'witness' over UN experts' murder

Military prosecutors in DR Congo say they have a key to witnessing the destruction of the war.

The experts – Zaida Catalan, a 36-year-old Swedish-Chilean national, and American Michael Sharp, 34 – were investigating mbad graves with a rebellion on behalf of the UN Security Council when they were abducted and killed on March 12. .

Kinshasa initially blamed the murder on the Kamwina Nsapu militia, who embarked on a campaign of armed violence after their leadership in August 2016.

But there has been growing questions about the possible role of state agents in the organization of the attack, which has intensified with the arrest and indictment of Jean Bosco Mukanda, a local teacher who is used to be a militia leader.

Initially, when the case first went to trial in June 2017, Prosecutors identified Mr Mukanda as a key witness who had allegedly arrived at Moyo Musuila village shortly after the peer had been killed.

He is one of the many suspects in the murder case before the trial.

When the trial resumes last month Robert Petit to badist the investigation by a regional oversight mechanism, Mr. to be.

Arrested in September, he was indicted this week on charges of conspiracy to murder and murder in the city of Kananga, where the trial is being held.

The decision to come to a conclusion after a close examination of his phone calls to a number of suspects in the murder, according to the UN-backed radio broadcaster Okapi's website.

Several defendants have also been asked for an active role in the deaths of the two experts.

"We understood that this was a man who took part in everything that happened," the prosecutor said this week.

Mr Mukanda's indictment was hailed by the defense team as a major coup.

"We said," We knew that we had a lot to do with the scene of the crime, about the preparations in Kananga and Moyo Musuila, "said lawyer Tresor Kabangu.

"He knew what happened after the experts were killed."

The Congolese army has denied involvement in the murder of one of its officers, Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni, was arrested in December on suspicion of preparing for the mission that led to the killings.

A total of 22 people are to be tried – Constantin Tshidime, the head of Moyo Musuila village where they were killed, and a militia leader called Vincent Manga.

In 2017, a panel concluded that the members of the group were adversely affected by a group of members, while refusing to rule out any involvement of the authorities.

Aimed at an investigation by Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Reuters the same year implied three state agents in the "organization" of the attack.

And three months ago, a joint investigation suggested that the United Nations has had a role in the murder.

Investigators on the task of working independently from the panel have been routinely misled by the Congolese authorities, accusing them of making little effort to interview key witnesses while tampering with others.