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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...

On the fringe of an operation by the Congolese army in the village of Kibungwe (South Kivu Province) in February 2010, Lieutenant Colonel Djela Felix and his men killed two people and raped a woman. Their trial was held in 2013 before the South Kivu Military Court. Djela was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes committed, and the Congolese State was consi...

In September 2013, in the village of Mukoloka in Shabunda Territory (South Kivu Province), Army Corporal Bolingo Katutsi forced open the door of the house where W. and E. lived, and raped them using his rifle. One of the two women had given birth just two weeks earlier, and her child was injured at the time the crimes were committed, dying a few months later. The...

W. G. was a senior officer of the Afghan army and belonged to both the Presidential Guard and the Kabul Garrison (KHAD – the security and intelligence agency). In his 15 years of service, he particularly fought the Mujahideen and was involved in the arrest of prisoners of war. Several NGOs accused KHAD of systematically using torture. On June 16, 2005, the Swiss A...