The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) hopes to prevent the Congolese justice system – described by the president of the republic as "sick" in 2023 – from making any mistakes. The CNDH wants to “normalise” the judicial system, as the Congolese government is determined to apply the death penalty, particularly in cases involving the security services, despite numerous appeals from human rights organisations, public figures, foreign institutions such as the European Union, and individual countries such as Belgium.
The Congolese authorities hope their use of the death penalty will deter traitors and corrupt officers who are regularly denounced by civil society and human rights organisations. Their complicity with armed groups is considered to be one of the causes of the persistent insecurity in eastern DRC.
To avoid innocent people being executed, the National Human Rights Commission recommends the adoption of legislative measures that will thoroughly reform the Congolese penal system. Among its key proposals, the CNDH suggests initiating bills to amend the civil and military penal codes, in order to significantly reduce the number of offences punishable by death. It also calls for the creation of new penalties for offences that will no longer be subject to the death penalty.
The human rights body would also like to see new legislation enabling convicts to appeal their sentences in criminal cases. The CNDH believes that President Tshisekedi could also use his power to commute sentences in order to transform death sentences into alternative penalties.
Some major Western powers are trying hard to persuade the Congolese government to abandon the death penalty which it has just reintroduced after a 20-year moratorium. Earlier in April, European Union Ambassador Nicolas Berlanga Martinez went to meet Minister of Justice Rose Mutombo Kiese, to ask her to lift the death penalty in the DRC. According to the diplomat, the threat of the death penalty has almost no deterrent effect. He recommended that the government use other means to combat impunity in the east of the country.
The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib, also recently visited the DRC, and asked the President of the National Assembly, Christophe Mboso, to block the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty in parliament. According to her, this move is in line with Belgium’s efforts to achieve universal abolition of the death penalty.
At a national level there are also numerous calls for the Congolese government to reverse its decision. Vasco Saasita, a jurist and human rights activist, recommends that instead of applying the death penalty, the national authorities put more effort into setting up a system that will oblige officers of the security forces and other citizens not to betray the country, not to kill and not to indulge in abuses. The activist believes the death penalty is not in itself a solution.
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