Democratic Republic of Congo
11.01.02
Urgent Interventions
'D.R. CongoDemocratic Republic of Congo: Messrs. Zelokata Baratomo, Koma Zongo Yvon and José Venze arrested and detained incommunicado
Case COD 020201
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by La Voix des sans Voix pour les Droits de l'Homme (VSV) and the Comité des Observateurs des Droits de l'Homme (CODHO), both members of the OMCT network, of the arrest of Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima. He was arrested on Saturday, 20th January 2001 in transit at Kinshasa/Ndjili international airport, as he was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, coming from Lagos, Nigeria, on board a Cameroon Airlines (CAMAIR) flight.
According to the information received, Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima, was arrested by security personnel in the airplane and taken, with his baggage, reportedly to the prison of the GLM, (Groupe Litho Moboti) in the commune of Gombe in Kinshasa.
OMCT is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima who fled from the DRC to Congo-Brazzaville and then on to Lagos, Nigeria, before deciding to seek asylum in Nairobi, Kenya. The DRC secret services allegedly persecute him for being from the province of Sud-Kivu, and a close collaborator with Commander Anselme Masasu Nindaga, former special advisor on security matters to Laurent Désiré Kabila.
Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima was arrested previously in 1998 and 1999. On 20 April 1998, he was arrested and taken to Lubumbashi, in the Province of Katanga, under the suspicion of aiding Anselme Masasu to escape from Buluwo prison, in the province of Katanga, before being acquitted on 19th May 1998 by the Military Court (Cour d’Ordre Militaire).
Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima was rearrested on 1 January 1999 and detained in the 'Centre Pénitentiaire et de Rééducation de Kinshasa' (CPRK, ex-central prison of Makala), Kinshasa Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre, for "threatening State security", following information given to an agent of the General Director of Migration (DGM) that Mr Kamwanya Bor Uzima had spoken on the phone with Joseph Mudumbi Mulunda, Interior Minister of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD). He was provisionally released on 9 March 2000 following a trial opened by the Military Court in April 1999, although the trial was never concluded.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo urging them to:
i. immediately locate his whereabouts and take all necessary measures to guarantee his physical and psychological integrity;
ii. order his immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges or, if such charges exist, bring him before an impartial and competent tribunal and guarantee his procedural rights at all times;
iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of this arrest in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
President Joseph Kabila. Présidence de la République, Kinshasa-Ngaliema, République Démocratique du Congo. Fax (+ 243) 880 02 120
Minister of Justice, Ministère de la Justice, BP 3137, Kinshasa Gombé, République Démocratique du Congo. Fax : (+243) 880 55 21
Minister of Human Rights, Ministre des droits humains, Fax : (+243) 12 20 664
Geneva, February 2, 2001
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by La Voix des sans Voix pour les Droits de l'Homme (VSV) and the Comité des Observateurs des Droits de l'Homme (CODHO), both members of the OMCT network, of the arrest of Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima. He was arrested on Saturday, 20th January 2001 in transit at Kinshasa/Ndjili international airport, as he was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, coming from Lagos, Nigeria, on board a Cameroon Airlines (CAMAIR) flight.
According to the information received, Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima, was arrested by security personnel in the airplane and taken, with his baggage, reportedly to the prison of the GLM, (Groupe Litho Moboti) in the commune of Gombe in Kinshasa.
OMCT is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima who fled from the DRC to Congo-Brazzaville and then on to Lagos, Nigeria, before deciding to seek asylum in Nairobi, Kenya. The DRC secret services allegedly persecute him for being from the province of Sud-Kivu, and a close collaborator with Commander Anselme Masasu Nindaga, former special advisor on security matters to Laurent Désiré Kabila.
Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima was arrested previously in 1998 and 1999. On 20 April 1998, he was arrested and taken to Lubumbashi, in the Province of Katanga, under the suspicion of aiding Anselme Masasu to escape from Buluwo prison, in the province of Katanga, before being acquitted on 19th May 1998 by the Military Court (Cour d’Ordre Militaire).
Mr Kamwanya Bora Uzima was rearrested on 1 January 1999 and detained in the 'Centre Pénitentiaire et de Rééducation de Kinshasa' (CPRK, ex-central prison of Makala), Kinshasa Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre, for "threatening State security", following information given to an agent of the General Director of Migration (DGM) that Mr Kamwanya Bor Uzima had spoken on the phone with Joseph Mudumbi Mulunda, Interior Minister of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD). He was provisionally released on 9 March 2000 following a trial opened by the Military Court in April 1999, although the trial was never concluded.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo urging them to:
i. immediately locate his whereabouts and take all necessary measures to guarantee his physical and psychological integrity;
ii. order his immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges or, if such charges exist, bring him before an impartial and competent tribunal and guarantee his procedural rights at all times;
iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of this arrest in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
President Joseph Kabila. Présidence de la République, Kinshasa-Ngaliema, République Démocratique du Congo. Fax (+ 243) 880 02 120
Minister of Justice, Ministère de la Justice, BP 3137, Kinshasa Gombé, République Démocratique du Congo. Fax : (+243) 880 55 21
Minister of Human Rights, Ministre des droits humains, Fax : (+243) 12 20 664
Geneva, February 2, 2001
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.