Bring hope to a Congolese pastor imprisoned for ten years
Evangelical church leader Fernando Kutino was arrested in May 2006 and charged with the illegal possession of firearms, criminal conspiracy and attempted murder. The charges were introduced after the trial was already underway, and the trial itself lasted only nine sittings despite the complexity and gravity of these charges and disputes about the authenticity of the evidence presented by the prosecution. One of the defendants, Junior Nganda, claimed that his testimony was obtained under torture, and a pastor who was the alleged victim relating to the attempted murder charges also refused to implicate Pastor Kutino or his colleagues. The defendants were initially sentenced to 20 years imprisonment; however the case was re-opened on 12 December 2007, following international pressure. Sadly, we have recently received news that Pastor Kutino has been sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Although the case against him was not strong and those who were trying his case may have wanted to release him, they would have faced a fate similar to Major Mbokolo Wawa, the judge who acquitted Marie-Therese Nlandu. After her acquittal Major Wawa and his assistant Captain Kawende faced numerous death threats, were placed under house arrest, and lost their jobs. BackgroundThe Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), or Congo Kinshasa, lies at the heart of the African continent and is the size of western Europe. Blessed with an abundance of natural resources, the country and its people should be rich and prosperous. Instead, some Congolese people experience arbitrary detention, torture, intimidation, harassment and other abuses at the hands of an elected government that the international community is currently seeking to bolster, while others suffer violence, disease, hunger, displacement and other privations in areas characterised by unremitting conflict between government forces and a variety of armed militias. A look inside the DRC….- 5.4 million Congolese people have died since 1998 from war-related violence, hunger and disease. - In 2007 the International Rescue Commission (IRC) estimated that as many as 45,000 people were dying every month. - At least 1.4 million people have been internally displaced by fighting. An additional 370,000 have been displaced in eastern Congo since December 2008 following intensification in fighting there. - Rape is a brutal weapon of war regularly used by all the armed groups in Congo – in 2007 the number of rape survivors in eastern Congo was estimated at 40,000.
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