The Military Court sitting in repressive matters at the first and at the appeal level, opened this Tuesday, September 5, the public hearing in the presence of the Interministerial Commission.

Six (6) soldiers including two colonels are compared. They are Colonel Kalamba Mikombe Mike, Lieutenant-Colonel Dem Bawili Mbolitini Donatien, Kabamba Kabula Idriss, Mwati Musembua, Mbaya Mbaya Fabrice and Amita Bangala Daniel, all prosecuted for "crimes against humanity by murder, malicious destruction, incitement soldiers to commit acts contrary to duty or discipline”.

During these first hearings, the public prosecutor indicated that the six (6) soldiers agreed to commit their crime, but also that their actions were implemented on their own initiative. This was not a state action. They acted “in isolation and not as part of their sovereign missions”.

However, in a statement made a few hours after the murderous repression of the followers of the “Wazalendo” sect which, according to the latest official report, left 43 dead and around fifty injured, Constant Ndima proudly affirmed that “the Defense and Security Forces took all the precautions and professionally stopped the adventures of these troublemakers playing the game of the M23/RDF aggressor”.

In the same logic, the government which defended the action of the military had accused the "unarmed" demonstrators of having carried out actions which undermined public order and caused the death by stoning of an element of the police thus leading to the intervention of the police to restore tranquility and serenity in the city”.

This Monday, September 4, the central government through the Interministerial Commission announced the recall to Kinshasa of the military governor and commander of military operations in the province of North Kivu, General Constant Ndima as well as two senior police officers.