DRC colonel sentenced to death over Goma anti-UN protest deaths
Congolese military defendant Colonel Mike Mikombe Kalamba (C) leaves after a court hearing in Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo on September 5, 2023. PHOTO | REUTERS
A Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) colonel has been found guilty of murder and other crimes related to the August killing of 56 people during an army crackdown on anti-UN demonstrations in eastern part of the country, a local court said on Monday.
Col Mike Mikombe, who was head of the Republican Guard unit in the city of Goma, where the incident took place, was one of six soldiers on trial. He was sentenced to death, but the death penalty is no longer applied in Congo, and is generally commuted to life imprisonment.
