DRC police accused of executing 27 alleged gang members
But police have denied the allegations in a report by the US-based Human Rights Watch
Kinshasa — An international rights group on Thursday accused Congolese police of summarily executing at least 27 people, some of whom were bound, strangled and mutilated in a crackdown on gangs in the capital Kinshasa in 2018. Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo denied the allegations in a report by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report, based on interviews with nearly 80 witnesses, victims’ family members, security officials and others, adds to allegations that Kinshasa police executed suspected gang members. President Felix Tshisekedi, who took over in January, has vowed to clean up human rights abuses by DRC’s security forces that he frequently criticised during the tenure of his predecessor, Joseph Kabila. Tshisekedi’s spokesperson, Vidiye Tshimanga, declined to comment on the report. Kinshasa’s police chief, General Sylvano Kasongo, accused in the report of close involvement in the operation, denied it had happened. “The police in Kinshasa did not kill people...
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