The High Military Court’s ruling, which sentenced former President Joseph Kabila Kabange to death in absentia, continues to provoke a wave of reactions at national and international levels. One of the most prominent voices to speak out is that of Dr Debora Kayembe, a lawyer, human rights activist and respected intellectual figure, who described the trial as a ‘judicial spectacle’ rather than a genuine attempt to deliver justice.
Indeed, since it began, the trial has attracted constant attention, but also raised questions. In Dr Debora Kayembe’s view, the case has taken on theatrical proportions, with the search for truth and justice replaced by political and media posturing.
‘From its inception to its verdict, this trial has been more like a spectacle than a genuine attempt to deliver justice,’ she said, expressing her deep regret.
Lack of seriousness and waste of public resources
She denounced the lack of seriousness of the proceedings and ridiculed what she considered a grotesque verdict handed down in the absence of the main defendant, and the ‘exorbitant fees of $2 million awarded to the lawyers’ in a country where, she pointed out, social and humanitarian emergencies are pressing.
In her view, the funds mobilised for such a trial could have been better directed towards essential priorities such as health, education, security, or the reconstruction of basic infrastructure. In a country like ours, where ‘everything is a priority’ and where the population struggles every day to survive, how can such a state-funded judicial spectacle be justified? she asks.
A missed opportunity for reconciliation?
Dr Kayembe adds that this trial had political and symbolic connotations that were completely ignored. In her view, the Congolese authorities had an opportunity here to turn a crisis into an opportunity for reconciliation and national cohesion.
In her open letter to the President of the Republic, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, dated 9 September, she already called for the preservation of national unity in the face of this trial. She wrote:
‘’The Congo today needs truth and justice, but above all reconciliation to counter the enemy.’’ She insisted that her message should not be perceived as complacency towards impunity:
‘’This letter is not a plea for impunity, but a call for wisdom and responsibility,’’ she wrote.
Disappointment and concerns
Dr Debora Kayembe expressed her deep disappointment at the verdict. She believes that the ruling power has prioritised confrontation at the expense of peace and national cohesion.
‘This trial should have been an opportunity to bring people together, but it is highly likely that we have lost that opportunity,’ she lamented.
Justice and politics: a fragile boundary
The Kabila case once again highlights the delicate boundary between justice and politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For Dr Debora Kayembe, justice must remain an instrument of truth and reparation, not a tool for settling scores or a theatre for battles of influence.
