Chalupa at Kinshasa Makala Prison, Monday, July 30, 2012.)
***
In February, less than a month after Pierre-Jacques Chalupa was nabbed
by Congolese authorities on the trumped-up charge of "fraudulent
citizenship" and two days after his transfer as an inmate to Kinshasa
Makala Prison, I ran a post here in which I mistakenly said that he
was a Greek-Congolese politician.
(Arrested on January 18, Chalupa was transferred to Makala Prison on
February 2. Chalupa is a diehard pro-Tshisekedi opposition leader.)
(see Page Address:
alexengwete.blogspot.com/2012/02/cabal-in-progress-greek-congolese.html?m=1)
Preliminary hearings on the case have been held by the Ngaliema
Magistrates' Court in the precinct of Kinshasa Makala Prison since
last month.
Those preliminary hearings ended Thursday, August 2.
And the trial per se is set to begin on Monday, August 6.
The following is the highlights of what has so far transpired from the
court proceedings.
***
Pierre-Jacques Chalupa was born in the Congo to Portuguese parents,
his lawyers allege, who were traders as many others of their
compatriots.
With the exception of a short stint in Burundi as a kid, Chalupa has
spent his entire life in the Congo.
The prosecution claims, however, that Chalupa was born in Bujumbura,
Burundi, to Portuguese parents.
It further charges that Chalupa has never been naturalized Congolese.
It is prosecuting him for fraudulently enjoying benefits due to
legitimate citizens.
The prosecution therefore intends to have Chalupa stripped of his
citizenship, jailed for carrying forged official documents, then
deported to his country of origin.
And that's where happened the first awkward move by the prosecution,
since it seemed to be wavering between Burundi and Portugal as
"country of origin."
Now, contacted by lawyer Kabengele Ilunga, a member of Chalupa's
defense team, both Burundian and Portuguese consular officials in
Kinshasa denied that Chalupa has ever held their respective
citizenship.
A Catch-22, as it were, for Chalupa.
Chalupa adamantly insists on his being a true-blood Congolese citizen.
At the hearing of Monday, July 23, Chalupa shot back at the prosecutor:
"I am a Congolese, born to a Portuguese father. And as for my
citizenship certificate, I did obtain it in due form from state's
official services. If it's forged, how would I know it? And how would
you call into question official documents issued by state services?"
Well, Selumbe, the Director of the Chancellery Services of the Justice
Ministry, who had delivered the citizenship certificate, has since
been arrested and charged with the felony of issuing forged official
documents.
(Selumbe is only identified by his last name in media reports
chronicling what is now called the 'Chalupa Case.')
Selumbe was appearing as Chalupa's co-defendant at that court hearing
of July 23.
Countering the prosecutor's contention, Selumbe's attorney argued that
his client, in issuing the citizenship certificate to Chalupa, was
only exercising what was in his official purview--after thoroughly
checking the applicant's background.
He further challenged the prosecution to prove that the official
document delivered by Selumbe was indeed forged.
"This case is totally empty!" lawyer Hubert Efole, a member of
Chalupa's defense team, exclaimed. "And this really pains me!"
Efole went a step further in deconstructing the prosecution case.
"In fact, the Congolese state is racist," Efole indignantly blasted
the prosecutor, "as it is only prosecuting my client for having white
skin!"
At the court session of Thursday, August 2, the defense, buoyed by
what they construed as the faltering of the prosecution case, again,
trained they guns on the Congolese state.
"To take away and destroy the official documents [Chalupa] possesses,"
lawyer Kabengele Ilunga contended, "would be tantamount to turning him
into a stateless person, and there, the DRC would be turning against
international law, which forbids making people stateless!"
This case couldn't have happened at a more inopportune moment for the
Congolese government, when it needs to have on its side all the good
will of the international public opinion.
The Ngaliema Magistrates' Court could, however, still do the
government a favor by throwing this frivolous case out of court for
lack of merit.
Otherwise, the DRC would soon be known as the Kafkaesque Republic of the Congo.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: John Bompengo/Radio Okapi (radiookapi.net)
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