Ten years after prominent human rights defender Pascal Kabungulu was shot dead by soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), his family is filing a complaint before the United Nations, Swiss NGO Track Impunity Always (TRIAL) said on Monday. The complaint has been filed with the help of TRIAL and the Canadian Centre for International Justice. The complainants hope this will help end wider impunity for murderers of human rights activists in the DRC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe complaint before the UN Human Rights Committee comes after tireless efforts by the family and human rights groups to restart long-stalled judicial proceedings in the DRC,\u201d says TRIAL.<\/p>\n
Armed men in military uniforms murdered Kabungulu on July 31, 2005, in his home, in front of his family. His death followed several threats against him as a result of his human rights work with the organization H\u00e9ritiers de la Justice in Bukavu, in the South Kivu province of eastern DRC. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Days after the murder, Kabungulu\u2019s wife D\u00e9borah Kitumaini also came under threat and had to flee the country with her six children. They eventually resettled in Canada.<\/p>\n
Legal proceedings started in 2005, but \u201cthe prosecution effectively ended when witnesses implicated high-ranking officials in the murder and the case was transferred to a higher court,\u201d says the TRIAL statement. \u00a0Since then, efforts by the family and human rights organizations have been \u201cunable to convince authorities to restart the trial\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
TRIAL director Philip Grant says this case before the UN Human Rights Committee could set a precedent. \u201cPascal\u2019s family has suffered a lot and deserves justice to be served at last,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also want to shine a light on the continued danger for other human rights defenders in the DRC to help prevent further crimes against them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pascal Kabungulu\u2019s murder took place in a context of violent armed conflict between the security forces and several armed groups in the eastern DRC. Many violations were committed and human rights defenders denouncing these violations lived in very fragile and vulnerable conditions, says TRIAL. \u201cBetween 2005 and 2008, at least a dozen journalists and human rights defenders were killed,\u201d TRIAL legal advisor Elsa Taquet told JusticeInfo.net. \u201cPascal Kabungulu\u2019s murder is a symbolic case,\u201d she says, \u201cbut it is far from being the only example of attacks on human rights defenders in the DRC. \u00a0We are thinking, for example, of Floribert Chebeya\u2019s murder, another symbolic case.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UN Human Rights Committee is the highest international legal body competent to examine and recognize the violations committed against Pascal Kabungulu and his family, Tacquet explains. \u201cIt is also a solution of last resort when the domestic remedies have been exhausted,\u201d she says. \u201cThe powers of the Committee are essentially to provide the DRC with recommendations so it re-opens the national investigations and prosecutes those responsible for the killing, but also to provide recommendations to the DRC to grant reparation to Pascal Kabungulu\u2019s family and recognize them as victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur family has great hope that the United Nations will render a favourable decision,\u201d said Heri Kabungulu, son of Pascal Kabungulu. \u201cThe DRC would then be urged to reopen the investigation and punish the perpetrators. It\u2019s time for impunity to end.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ten years after prominent human rights defender Pascal Kabungulu was shot dead by soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), his family is filing a complaint before the United Nations, Swiss NGO Track Impunity Always (TRIAL) said on Monday. The complaint has been filed with the help of TRIAL and the Canadian Centre for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":67248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2197],"class_list":["post-25967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-tribunals","ji_location-democratic-republic-of-congo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n