Alarm at Outbreak of Mob Justice

Lack of confidence in the legal system of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, has prompted a spate of vigilante justice, provoking alarm among law enforcers.



Patrick Yav, a lawyer from the Centre for Human Rights, a DRC-based non-governmental organisation, reports a growing number of incidents throughout the country where members of the public mete out summary justice on criminals caught red-handed, rather than relying on the courts.



“Alleged criminals are often beaten up, burnt, or killed with machetes,” he said. “They undergo cruel, inhumane and degrading treatments. Sometimes innocent people are killed by the angry mob, because the evidence is wrong.”



Such vigilante justice is a reflection of the desperate state of the country's increasingly cash-strapped judicial system.



On June 30, Congolese president Joseph Kabila broadcast a statement on national television, calling for a clean-up of corruption in the judiciary and a restoration of public confidence in the system.



With typical incomes of less than 200 US dollars a month, judges frequently turn to corruption to supplement their meagre earnings, often handing down verdicts on the basis of who can pay the most, according to Harriet Solloway, head of the rule of law unit at the United Nations Mission in DRC.



Prison conditions in the DRC have also come under fire recently, with lax security blamed for regular break-outs and human rights abuses committed against inmates.



The High Council of the Magistracy was set up in 2006 to guarantee the independence of judges by taking disciplinary action where necessary, but, lacking adequate funding, it has so far failed to meet expectations.



In 2004, with the courts paralysed through a lack of money and corruption, the government of DRC called in the International Criminal Court, ICC, to investigate alleged war crimes.



Yav says that mob justice is a worrying trend that could further undermine the country's creaking judicial system.



“Each person has an equal right for their case to be heard in a fair and public way by an independent and impartial court,” said Yav. “We must remember that each person is presumed innocent until his guilt has been legally established with a public trial, with all necessary guarantees for his defence.”



At the beginning of July, in the town of Katuba, some seven kilometres outside Lubumbashi, a thief was heard trying to enter a house in the early hours of the morning. The owner of the house called for help, frightening the thief and prompting a search of the area.



“The whole neighbourhood was searched,” recalled the owner. “We found two of the five thieves and we attacked them. Around 6 am, the police came to collect the bodies of the criminals.



His actions highlight a widespread loss of faith in the criminal justice system. “Our justice is the best because we know that when prison doors are opened, one forgets to close them,” he said. “Prisoners who arrived there in the morning go out peacefully in the evening and commit more crimes.”



“It is a case of legitimate self-defence,” said Georgette Misenga, another resident. “Often, thieves come in with firearms and sometimes they kill people they find in the house. When you feel insecure, you have to defend yourself.”



Another incident took place in Kenya, a suburb of Lubumbashi in July. Residents of the neighbourhood say that at 1 am, a man was caught trying to break into a house. He was dragged out to the street where he was set alight and suffered an excruciating death.



One resident reports that the police did not arrive in time to intervene in the vigilante execution. “Our police always come too late,” he said. “That’s why the population took care of the matter themselves.”



For their part, the police are quick to defend themselves against allegations of ineffectiveness.



Colonel Jacques Ilunga, the provincial police inspector, complains that the courts are often too quick to release criminal suspects on bail.



“We are doing everything to arrest criminals,” he said. “But just a few days after a man has been transferred to the prosecution, he is released. He comes to see us, ask how we are doing and to collect his belt that he left at the police station. All these criminals that we arrest must end up in prison. If they are released, they will just return to crime.”



The inspector says that dealing with mob justice is no different from dealing with any other crime.



“In such cases, the police still does its job,” he said. “This means arresting the perpetrators of mob justice along with the thief.”



Dieudonné Kanyama, the prosecutor for Lubumbashi’s district court, reserves harsh words for perpetrators of mob justice, saying that “no one has the right to render their own justice” and that, if they do, they risk being sentenced to death for the murder of another human being.



Héritier Maila is an IWPR-trained reporter in Lubumbashi.