Dozens of combatants have been sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A military court has sentenced 51 people to death for plotting to assassinate two UN experts.
In 2017, Jida Catalan, a Chilean of Swedish descent, and Michelle Sharp, a U.S. citizen, were abducted and murdered in a Congolese slaughterhouse. They were tasked with investigating mass graves found after fighting between government forces and militant groups.
Her translator, Vet Tishintella, was also killed. Their body were found sixteen days after the hijacking. Catalan was beheaded among them.
The United Nations was shocked by the incident. General Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary, has told that the United Nations will take “all the possible steps” to make sure justice. More than one million people were displaced in the violence that erupted in August 2016 after the assassination of Sanatan leader Kamvina Sapu.
Of the dozens of defendants, the court sentenced 51 to death. However, as the Congo has previously postponed the death penalty, it has been speculated that the death sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment.
