Assassination of Chérubin Okende: The opposition calls for an independent international investigation
The assassination of the national deputy and former Minister of Transport, Ways and Communication, Chérubin Okende, continues to arouse strong reactions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). While the government ensures that the investigations are progressing, the political party of the opponent Moïse Katumbi, in which Chérubin Okende was spokesperson, calls for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry with the support of international experts.
Indeed, Together for the Republic, the party of Moïse Katumbi, denounces the slowness of Congolese justice in this case and calls for an independent international investigation. According to Dieudonné Bolengetenge Balea, secretary general of the party, it is urgent to set up this commission of inquiry in order not to let the evidence disappear and to allow the search for the assassins and their sponsors.
The political party also criticizes the communication of the government in this affair and underlines the importance of an autopsy to determine the exact circumstances of the death of Chérubin Okende. Together for the Republic believes that the Congolese justice system has been removed from the investigation of the case and is questioning the conclusions announced by the General Prosecutor without serious investigation or autopsy.
The similarities between the assassination of Chérubin Okende and that of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya are also pointed out by the party of Moïse Katumbi. Together for the Republic calls for an independent and impartial investigation to shed light on this assassination.
Faced with mistrust of Congolese justice, Moïse Katumbi has taken steps with foreign chancelleries and the UN mission in the DRC, Monusco, to request extensive and independent international investigations.
Congolese public opinion, as well as the international community, are now awaiting the establishment of this independent international commission of inquiry in order to shed light on the assassination of Chérubin Okende and to prosecute those responsible for this crime.
It is essential that the truth comes out and that justice is done, so that such heinous acts do not go unpunished in the Democratic Republic of the Congo