Amnesty - Dem. Rep. Congo: Detention without charge/prisoner of conscience

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source:
Amnesty International
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PUBLIC	AI Index: AFR 62/005/2002

UA 120/02		Detention without charge/ 
22 April 2002
			prisoner of conscience
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF 	N'sii Luanda Shandwe (m), human rights defender
CONGO	(DRC)


Human rights defender N'sii Luanda Shandwe is being held without 
charge in the Congolese capital Kinshasa, following his arrest on 19 
April. The authorities have not yet specified the reason for his 
arrest, but Amnesty International fears that it may be connected to 
his human rights activism.

N'sii Luanda was arrested at around 7.40am at his home by two 
officials from a military tribunal known as the Cour d'ordre 
militaire (COM), Military Order Court. The two COM officials 
conducted a search of his home and seized a number of documents. 
N'sii Luanda was then taken into custody at the COM headquarters.

A lawyer from the human rights organisation of which N'sii Luanda is 
the president - the Comité des observateurs des droits de l'homme 
(CODHO), Committee of Human Rights Observers - has been able to visit 
him in detention and friends have been able to bring him food. 
However, although N'sii Luanda has twice been questioned by COM 
magistrates, the motive for his arrest has not yet been made clear to 
him.

N'sii Luanda has reportedly been questioned about the activities of 
CODHO.  He has been asked about his recent trip to Geneva, where he 
attended sessions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. 
He has also been questioned about his links to a student whose 
surname is Bisimwa.  The student had been lodging at N'sii Luanda's 
home and CODHO had provided him with legal assistance when he was 
charged earlier this year with endangering state security. Although 
the student was formally acquitted in court of this charge and 
released, he was rearrested on 8 April on the same charge and is 
currently detained at the central prison.

Given the apparent absence of any evidence of criminal wrongdoing 
against N'sii Luanda, Amnesty International is calling for his 
immediate and unconditional release.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

N'sii Luanda spent three months as a prisoner of conscience between 
June and September 2001. He was never formally charged with any 
offence, but his arrest was believed to be linked to CODHO's 
activities on behalf of detainees who had been arrested in connection 
with the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in January 
2001. (See UA 143/01, AFR 62/013/2001, 6 June 2001 and follow-ups)

The Cour d'ordre militaire is a military tribunal set up in 1997 by 
the late Laurent-Désiré Kabila. It was initially supposed to hear 
only cases involving members of the military, but it soon began to 
hear civilian cases as well, despite not having the jurisdiction to 
do so. It has since become one of the government's key instruments of 
political repression. Dozens of political activists, journalists, and 
human rights activists have been imprisoned by the COM after 
manifestly unfair and politically motivated trials. There is no right 
of appeal against sentences handed down by the COM. Over 200 people 
have also been executed after being sentenced to death by the COM.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as 
possible, in French or English or your own language:
- expressing concern at the arrest and detention without charge of 
N'sii Luanda Shandwe;
- expressing your fear that he is a prisoner of conscience, 
arbitrarily detained on account of his human rights activism;
- urging his immediate and unconditional release;
- calling for an end to the persistent harassment of human rights 
defenders throughout the DRC.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of Human Rights
Professeur Ntumba Luaba
Ministre de Droits humains
Ministère de Droits humains
33/C Boulevard du 30 juin
Kinshasa-Gombe
République démocratique du Congo
Email:
	 Min_droitshumains at yahoo.fr
Fax: 	+ 243 12 20 664 (this number can be very difficult to get through to)
Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Dear Minister

Minister of Justice
Monsieur Antoine Deogratias Ngele Masudi
Ministre de la justice et des Affaires parlementaires
Ministère de la justice
BP 3137 Kinshasa-Gombe
République démocratique du Congo
Fax: 	+ 243 12 20 843 (If someone answers ask for the fax 
"Pourriez- vous brancher le fax s'il vous plaît?" - this number can 
be very difficult to get through to)
Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Dear Minister

COM Prosecutor
Colonel Charles Alamba Mongako
Procureur général près la Cour d'ordre militaire
Palais de Justice, BP 7016
Kinshasa-Gombe
République démocratique du Congo
Salutation: Monsieur le Procureur général / Dear Prosecutor

COPIES TO: Diplomatic representatives of Democratic Republic of Congo 
accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International 
Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 3 June 
2002.




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