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Claude (real name withheld) was stopped in the street by Burundian State agents. Without any explanations, they simply threatened him with a weapon and ordered him to follow them, confiscating his car keys. During Claude’s interrogation, they tried by all means to make him “confess” fictitious facts: blows all over his body with bats and iron wires, suspension by...

On 17 December 2014, agents of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) arrested F. at his home, without any arrest warrant. He was immediately locked up in an ANR solitary confinement cell and tortured over a long period of time to make him “confess” to stealing a large sum of money from his former associate, who happened to be very close to the ANR Commander. Despite...

Ms H. works at Panzi Hospital alongside Dr Mukwege, helping female victims of sexual violence. Her work had already attracted several threats and, on 19 June 2013, she was abducted from her home by six armed men. Kidnapped for three days, she was raped and abused. On the night of the third day, Ms H. was dumped – handcuffed and unconscious – on the roadside. Ms H....

N. was raped at her home in 2014 by a Colonel of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). He was her husband’s colleague. Like countless victims of rape, N. was place in the dock by her community, leaving her isolated and stigmatized for a crime of which she was a victim. Despite the pressure put on her, N. had the courage to file a compla...

Fred Bauma is one of the most prominent figures of the LUCHA (standing for Lutte pour le Changement, the Fight for Change), a well-known NGO demanding democratic change in DRC. In March 2015, Fred was arrested by State agents during a peaceful demonstration in Kinshasa. Accused of inciting violence and rebellion, he was immediately placed in detention. TRIAL I...

Torture, a common practice in East DRC In Eastern DRC, torture is used as a widespread practice by the armed forces and particularly by agents of the National Intervention Legion (LENI), a specialist intervention unit of the Congolese National Police. From 2014 to 2015, local NGOs gathered numerous personal accounts from the population about cases of abuse, arbitrary...

For 10 days in 2012, the small village of Minova was the scene of a wave of violence: the villagers were victims of acts of mass rape, murder and pillage. The perpetrators of these atrocities were all members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Congolese National Police (PNC). This case provoked a national outcry and 39 Stat...

Rached Jaïdane Wrongly suspected of inciting an attack against the party in power, Rached Jaïdane, a former political opponent, was arrested in Tunisia in 1993. Among the acts of cruelty that he suffered during his detention, Rached Jaïdane was punched, kicked and beaten with truncheons all over his body; he was subjected to the “roast chicken” method of torture,...

The Ruzizi Plain is situated in South Kivu Province and borders on Burundi. A conflict has raged for many years between the two ethnic groups that populate the plain, the Bafuliro and the Barundi, due to land-holding, economic and political rivalries. The local civilian populations endure regular waves of attacks and serious crimes, while the State authorities have n...

The case of seven women whose rapists were convicted in 2011 epitomizes the gap between a guilty verdict and truly satisfying, restorative justice. In the summer of 2009, the Congolese army launched “Operation Kimia II” in South Kivu, aiming to track down members of the non-state armed group FDLR. An army battalion was deployed in the town of Mulenge and by mid- A...

In early January 2011, a simple fight between two men in Fizi (South Kivu Province) degenerated when a group of soldiers belonging to the Congolese army launched an offensive against the civilian population. Several tens of victims reported acts of rape, pillage and murder. Thirteen months later, nine soldiers – of whom Lieutenant Colonel Kibibi Mutware was the ma...