It is a delicate situation for the defense teams of Marcel Tshilumba and Emmanuel Mukini. The two men were sentenced to death in 2023, at the end of a trial before a Congolese military trial chamber. They are accused of being responsible for the murder of a traditional chief, Chief Mbangu, and his atrocious dismemberment in public, in the town of Masuika, in 2017, during the so-called Kamuina Nsapu conflict, which bloodied the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between 2016 and 2019. But in trying to save their own skins, during an appeal trial held at the scene of the crime from March 3 to 7, they accused each other.
“To save my life, I joined the Kamuina Nsapu movement, I was forced to. Those who resisted were killed. It was Marcel Tshilumba, alias the White Man, the warlord, who ordered me to behead Chief Mbangu. He was the one who brought him with a group of other militiamen. That day, I was on the market side in Masuika. The severed body parts of the chief (head, genitals and arms) were collected by Marcel Tshilumba for an unknown destination,” Mukini, a young man easily in his thirties, recounts. Mukini is accused of having beheaded the victim and mutilated his body after Tshilumba had shot Chief Mbangu. He has been in prison for eight years. “We plead guilty, our client has cooperated with the court by telling the truth about what actually happened on Wednesday, May 6, 2017,” pleads one of his lawyers. “We apologize to the court. It is not a crime, it is not an offense if the court pardons our client,” says his second lawyer.
With Tshilumba's defense counsels, the debate is heated. Tshilumba's lawyers accept that it was their client who brought Chief Mbangu to the podium, but they say that someone else pulled the trigger. “There is no evidence to show our client shooting Chief Mbangu,” argues one of his lawyers. In fact, although there is a video of the crime, taken by a local in the crowd, in which Mukini is seen desecrating the body of Chief Mbangu, Tshilumba is not directly seen firing the shot that killed Mbangu just beforehand. This is despite the fact that many witnesses and Mukini himself claim that he was the one who did it. The defendant Tshilumba denies everything. According to him, certain traditional chiefs were responsible for the insurrectionary movement in that area, while he was just a simple driver. “I never shot the chief. I named four other traditional chiefs, I requested their appearance, why don't they answer?” wonders Tshilumba, two meters tall, brown, 32 years old.
Regarding other alleged crimes – including arson, theft, rape, looting and criminal conspiracy – Tshilumba's defense also points to the lack of evidence. “Our client had come to this village on business. Some witnesses became jealous of him even though he had nothing to do with it,” they conclude.
The story of a video
Among the many people in the public audience, opinions are divided. “Nobody joined this movement of their own free will. They were all forced. I ask the court to take note of this reality,” explains a woman in the audience. “This boy made us suffer in this town, he was the one who laid down the law. He could say, ‘Today, no one is preparing the food’. He must suffer the full force of the law,” explains one of the local dignitaries.
Outside the courtroom, victims' lawyer Cédric Nsenda presents himself as the instigator of the trial, when the victims did not know where to start. He is praising himself for what he calls a “happy outcome”. “I was the first lawyer to put together the case, I paid the legal fees so that the case could be brought to trial even though I didn't know anyone in the area. It was only afterwards that I met the 283 victims and Chief Mbangu Stanis [son of the murdered chief and witness at the trial] to organize as civil parties. They believed in me, we won at first instance, and I hope we will win again here at second instance, because all the evidence presented is in favor of the victims,” explains the lawyer from the Kasaï Central bar to Justice Info. “Our first meeting with the victims was historic. I found a people without hope. Some had already resumed their activities. I documented various cases of rape, theft, arson and looting. I spent about seven days in this village. This movement [Kuamina Nsapu] had destroyed everything. The victims recognized the perpetrators and today they are standing trial,” he says proudly. “I got the video in Lualaba [the province neighboring Kasaï Central] from a man after several days of investigation. He didn't want to give it up, but was willing to cooperate if he was drunk. We kept him drinking until we got the video. I was accompanied by a colleague. It's irrefutable proof. The two defendants couldn't have known about this ammunition. I'm now awaiting the sentences for Tshilumba and Mukini.”
Lawyer and victim
Jean Jacques Sanzandji is another lawyer for the civil parties. He went through everything during the insurrection of the Kamuina Nsapu militia in Masuika. He is a native of the area and acknowledges that his life was saved thanks to the intervention of the armed forces. “When there were clashes, I fled into the bush. After three days, when I tried to leave, I was intercepted by the militiamen who wanted me dead because they killed without distinction. But one of them said that I was the only lawyer we had in the city and that I had to be protected. That's when I was saved. And when I met the soldiers, luckily for me I spoke Swahili, they protected me, we buried 280 people with them. It was horrible,” he says. “I experienced the events and I am a lawyer but the people of Masuika know who killed Chief Mbangu, who was in charge of the militia here. We gave a warm welcome to a young clothing salesman who turned into a killer and then a looter. We are happy with the way the trial went. We believe that the guilty parties will be punished in accordance with the law,” he insists.
The military prosecutor has requested the death penalty for the two men, i.e. confirmation of the judgment at first instance. The verdict had been announced for March 7, but was finally postponed until March 10. This did not please the population. However, the law allows the court eight days to reach its decision, explained the first president of the military court of former Western Kasaï, Colonel Innocent Mayembe.
