Eight DR Congo troops sentenced to death for desertion in the face of M23 attack
A Congolese police officer sits in a former Monusco military base in Kamanyola, South Kivu, in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on 27 April 2024. They were accused of cowardice in the fight against M23 rebels.A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-torn east on Friday handed a death sentence to eight soldiers, including five officers, for desertion and cowardice when fighting M23 rebels.
"They never fled from the enemy nor abandoned their position -- on the contrary," said Alexis Olenga, lawyer for one of the five officers facing charges. "We are going to appeal," Jean-Richard Buino, a lawyer for the convicted Colonel Patient Mushengezi Shamamba, told AFP. For the last 20 years, death sentences have been handed down in the DRC, especially in cases involving the military or armed groups, but have systematically been commuted to life in prison.
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