A tent has been set up in the compound of the Ndolo military prison, surrounded by four long walls, under which about 70 people have taken their seats. On June 1 victims, relatives of detainees and onlookers have come to hear the High Military Court’s verdict. Before them is a courtroom where 55 detainees in blue and yellow prison uniforms with “hearing” marked on the back, sit facing the seven members of the court. This is the final hearing in this trial, which began on May 25, 2021, at the same location. It is a “moment of truth” awaited for more than seven years after atrocities committed in the western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Three other detainees are ill and 16 others are appearing as free defendants, including three former provincial deputies and the only woman on trial. Four are on the run and three have died in custody. In total, there are 81 defendants on the list obtained from the court. Nine charges have been filed, including murder, deportation, and arson as crimes against humanity. 357 people have filed civil suits.
The events date back to December 16–18, 2018. As the DRC prepared to hold general elections, the “ban’a lac” – meaning “daughters and sons of the lake” as they like to call themselves – were killing one another. In Yumbi, 300 kilometres north of Kinshasa, there were house fires, murders by knife or gun, rapes and mutilations, including genital mutilations. For 48 hours, the territory was the scene of horrors. At least 535 people lost their lives and some 20,000 fled to neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, on the other bank of the Congo River. About 50 mass graves were discovered, according to a UN report presented in March 2019 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The same report notes acts that were likely planned and organized, given a similar modus operandi in several locations, and carried out with the support of traditional leaders. The UN also cites the failure of provincial authorities to prevent these crimes.
At the same session of the Human Rights Council, Marie-Ange Mushobekwa, then Congolese Minister of Human Rights and chair of a national commission of inquiry on Yumbi, denounced in particular “children under the age of ten massacred simply because they belong to a particular ethnic group, pregnant women killed and disembowelled, and foetuses mutilated.” In February 2019, the new Congolese authorities that emerged from the December 2018 elections established the “Yumbi Commission”, led by several ministries. The following May, the commission published its report, which documented 461 deaths and more than 1,500 homes set ablaze. It also highlighted the involvement of local “political and administrative authorities”.
31 defendants get 20 years, death penalty for two fugitives
On June 1, it is 2:40 p.m. when the court convenes, accompanied, of course, by military honours. The presiding judge, Brigadier General Diamanga Freddy, begins with calling the defendants by name. Then, at 3:00 p.m., the rapporteur begins reading the judgment. It is nearly 300 pages long. The presiding judge proposes reading a summary. After an hour, he interrupts the reading and proceeds directly to pronounce the verdict, noting that the full document will be available in a few days.
The first decision is logical: charges are dismissed against five deceased defendants, including Malala Ngobila, described as a leader on the Batende side. A handful of defendants have their cases dismissed due to procedural irregularities. Then come the acquittals. There are 34 of them. Some were cleared by the prosecution itself; others by the court, due to lack of evidence. The detainees in question cannot contain their relief and joy at regaining their freedom.
Finally, the time for sentencing arrives: eight years in prison for two defendants, 12 years for two others, and 20 years for 31 defendants, including village chief Mbaka Matalala. It was he who received “the spoils of war”: a woman’s severed hand in a bag. Two defendants on the run both get the death penalty: Okako, alias Ocean, and Ngwe Djo Caris.
The defence team of course welcomes the acquittals, but they do not hide their disappointment otherwise. “I am a bit disappointed,” lawyer Alain Nsele tells Justice Info. “How can you convict someone when the evidence shows he wasn’t in Yumbi? We didn’t have any physical evidence of the hand in question. We have to appeal before the Court of Cassation. People were convicted simply because they are Batende. That’s just awful.”
The State is spared
Disappointment also immediately set in among the civil parties, with several of their dissatisfied lawyers quitting the courtroom. “We did our job. Unfortunately, the High Court ruled as it saw fit,” said attorney James Kamandondo. “When the High Court decides to acquit the defendants we prosecuted, it’s a feeling of desolation.”
Provoking more disappointment, the court ruled that the request to hold the Congolese state civilly liable was admissible but unfounded. This decision goes against the findings of reports by the UN and the Congolese government itself, in 2019. Both documents had clearly documented a failure on the part of the state.
The military court established that the events in question “form part of a widespread and systematic attack [against the civilian population], carried out as part of a land seizure policy devised during planning meetings, by men under orders (…) operating according to the same modus operandi”. In other words, crimes against humanity. The attackers [Batende], the court notes, entered Yumbi via the main road, armed with knives, gasoline and military weapons. They set houses on fire, killed people, “pursued several who were trying to flee to the banks of the Congo River and killed some who had already boarded canoes and boats (Banunu)”. In retaliation, the court adds, the Banunu burned Batende villages and also killed and wounded people there.
Gentiny Ngobila, the notable absentee
When the Yumbi case is mentioned, it is rare not to hear: “And what about Gentiny in all this? What does he say?” Gentiny Ngobila was the provincial chief of Mai-Ndombe, where Yumbi is located, at the time of the events. Although he was interviewed during the investigation phase, he did not appear even once during the trial hearings. Yet, throughout the proceedings, several requests were made to the court to hear the former governor, with the aim of shedding “more light” on the matter. But the court did not deem his appearance—which was the most anticipated—necessary. “Judges are professionals. When someone is named, they can discern the intent and determine whether it is well-founded or not,” explains a court source. “His name was mentioned here mainly because it appears that members of the Batende (Ngobila’s ethnic group) were chanting songs inciting violence against the Banunu, claiming they were acting on Gentiny’s orders. But this has not been proven. It can happen that someone is named without actually being involved.”
