Some 102 men were executed by the Congolese government in one week, and 70 more are set to be executed, the Associated Press reported on Sunday, January 5, quoting the country’s minister of justice. It said the men, aged 18 to 35, were armed robbers and “urban bandits,” locally known as Kuluna, who were executed in northwest DR Congo at Angenga prison. Forty-five were killed in late December, and the remaining 57 were executed within the last 48 hours. ALSO READ: 129 inmates killed in DR Congo prison break A flight of 70 more people from Kinshasa has arrived at Angenga, but the government hasn’t commented on the status of the prisoners. Minister of Justice Constant Mutamba, who is overseeing the executions, said late Sunday the “third batch will be executed, so the first two have already undergone the measure of execution by the death penalty.” The government’s decision to apply the death penalty has proved divisive. Some have welcomed the measure as a means of restoring order and security in the cities, while others are concerned about the risks of abuse and human rights violations. The death penalty in Congo is a sensitive issue. The country abolished it in 1981, but it was reinstated in 2006. The last execution took place in 2003 but in March 2024, the Congolese government announced the resumption of capital executions. However, the reinstated death penalty was intended to apply to military personnel accused of treason. In May, eight soldiers were sentenced to death for fleeing the battlefield, and in July, 25 soldiers were convicted of similar offences. None of them is known to have been executed.
