within the premises of Kinshasa Makala Prison. The court convenes
every Monday and Thursday. I was taken to watch the court proceedings
on Thursday, February 3, by an acquaintance who is a junior officer of
the military justice detailed to the court.
As could be seen (not clearly, unfortunately) in the above picture I
snapped with my mobile phone, the military court sits against the
background of a huge still life painted on the wall. I couldn't tell
whether this is a copy of a great master or an original painted by a
Congolese artist.
Well, I'd assume it's a copy as a pot of flower, a water pitcher,
books, a half-filled glass of red wine, and fruits are items neither
usually found in Kinshasa households nor are they likely to inspire
local artists. This painting might therefore be an order based on a
photo of an actual painting by a European master. An order no doubt
placed by a cultured judge... Strangely, the wall of the adjoining
small lobby has a more appropriate huge mural: a court in session,
with a lawyer addressing a dignified court.
At first I thought this was an improvised courtroom. Then I saw
written in capital blue: "NOUS JUGEONS NOS SEMBLABLES" (We try our
fellow men) and above the windows on the left the grim Roman maxim of
the Law: "Dura lex sed lex."
I think my mind pondered at length over the inappropriate interior
design of the courtroom because that particular session delved into
phone records. A representative of one of the cell phone carriers was
giving the court the date, time, lengths of calls, etc, of a mobile
phone. As I walked in when the proceedings were well underway, I
couldn't tell whose phone records the court was poring over. As I set
through the boring proceedings (hopefully wishing for a Perry Mason
moment), I regretted to have missed the dramatic appearance of Gen
John Numbi, about a week or so earlier.
Though Numbi defended himself forcefully, distancing himself from the
alleged murderers and providing credible alibis, Radio-Trottoir and
Flori Chebeya's family and friends still hold him as the number-one
murder suspect. Radio-Trottoir claims that Flori Chebeya was about to
question Numbi on the latter's alleged participation in the ethnic
cleansing in the Katanga Province in the waning years of the Mobutu
regime! Motive enough for Numbi to do Chebeya in!
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