Some 102 men were executed by the Congolese government in one week, and 70 more set to be executed, the Minister of Justice, Constant Mutamba, said.
The men, aged 18 to 35, were said to be armed robbers and urban bandits, locally known as Kuluna, who were executed in northwest DR Congo at Angenga prison. Forty-five were killed in late December, and the remaining 57 executed within the last 48 hours.
A flight of 70 more people from Kinshasa has arrived at Angenga, but the government has not commented on the status of the prisoners. Mutamba, who is overseeing the executions, said late Sunday the third batch will be executed, so the first two have already undergone the measure of execution by the death penalty.
The government’s decision to apply the death penalty has proved divisive. Some have welcomed the measure as a means of restoring order and security in the cities, while others are concerned about the risks of abuse and human rights violations.
The death penalty in Congo is a sensitive issue. The country abolished it in 1981, but it was reinstated in 2006. The last execution took place in 2003 but in March 2024, the Congolese government announced the resumption of capital executions.
