26 sentenced to death in Congo
A military court in Congo today sentenced 26 people to death for the assassination of President Laurent Kabila.
Kabila’s cousin and top aide, Colonel Eddy Kapend, was among those ordered to be killed. It was unclear when the sentences are to be carried out.
Kabila, a former rebel who took the presidency in 1997 and soon plunged Congo into a regional war, was shot dead in the presidential palace in Kinshasa in January 2001.
Kapend will appeal for amnesty to President Joseph Kabila, son and successor to the assassinated leader. Since his father’s death, Joseph has taken steps towards ending a four year war that has killed about two million people, mostly from famine and disease.
