DRC: Chérubin Okende file, who really wants to know the truth about this assassination?

An observation made by the family of the deceased and his lawyers who have just sent a letter this Tuesday, September 19 to the President of the Republic and to the highest Congolese political and judicial authorities but also to several diplomatic posts, including Belgium and Africa of the South who sent experts to assist Congolese investigators. (See letter below)

Members of the family of Chérubin Okende, former Minister of Transport and spokesperson for Moïse Katumbi’s Ensemble pour la République party, are concerned about the silence surrounding this investigation more than two months after the assassination and a month and a half after the autopsy.

DRC: Concerns for Chérubin Okende’s family

They are outraged that the body is still kept in the morgue “for supposedly investigative reasons.” »

They highlight the errors of a Congolese justice system which, while taking refuge behind “the secrecy of the investigation in the inquisitorial phase” has multiplied “inappropriate media outings”.

They are still worried by noting that “certain avenues which should be exploited are the subject of media outings by political authorities with the aim of discrediting them”. They highlight here the revelations made by Jeune Afrique which led to the arrest… of journalist Stanis Bujakera accused of spreading false rumors.

Faced with these observations, these silences and even this desire to block the smooth progress of this investigation, Mr. Okende’s defenders question the determination of the Congolese authorities to bring the truth to light.

The death of Chérubin Okende is, however, a real state affair and the Congolese authorities must bring to light the (real) truth, whatever it may be.

Endless questions

How can we explain that a politician is assassinated in the middle of the capital after being kidnapped from the parking lot of the Constitutional Court by several armed men in broad daylight?

How can we explain that Chérubin Okende was invited to appear at this court? Who knew he would be present in this parking lot?

How can we explain the media outings of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation who specifically incriminated certain relatives of the victim?

How can we explain that it was necessary to wait three weeks to carry out an autopsy? How can we justify that more than a month and a half after this autopsy, the results have not reached the investigating prosecutor’s office?

And the list of questions is still long.

Lawyer under pressure

The silence of the authorities, this apparent desire to slow down the process, to seek to cover their tracks, makes us fear that the truth will never emerge. In this context, relatives and lawyers do not hide their intention to try to bring the case before international courts.

The determination of the family and the lawyers visibly displeases some. A little over three months before the presidential elections, dissenting voices are coming under increasing pressure. Maître Laurent Onyemba, one of Chérubin Okende’s lawyers who had “dared” to react to the untimely outings of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, now appears in the viewfinder of the prosecution.

According to some of his colleagues: “we must expect that the council of the order will be mobilized to silence him. »