On Friday, March 17, 2023, a large crowd gathered outside a courtroom in the eastern Congolese village of Kamanyola to watch the trial of 15 military officers accused of child rapé conclude.
One soldier removed the colonel’ s epaulets and watched in silence as he was sentenced to seven years in prison for ráping a 14- year- old local girl in September last year.
” The conviction of a very high- ranking officer is a clear statement that no one is above the law, ” said Judge Innocent Mayembe, who found the 12 soldiers guilty.
The trial, which took place from February 27 to March 17, 2023, by the transitional military court, provides a rare opportunity for justice for rapé victims in the conflict- ridden eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where approximately 40 percent of women have experienced sexual assault and violence of all kinds.
In some experiments carried out in outdoor wooden structures, some victims and the father of one victim gave evidence in special hoods that obscured their faces, an indication of the fear of the stigma that prevented many from coming forward.
” I don’ t have any friends anymore, ” said one of the victims.
” Holding hearings in local communities helps show people the need to talk about sexual violence. The purpose. . . is to educate the public so they know that the law is for everyone, ” said lawyer Armand Muhima, who funded the trial.
Importantly, she works for the Panzi Foundation, founded by Nobel Prize- winning gynecologist Denise Mukwege, which has campaigned to help hundreds of thousands of women who have been ráped in eastern Congo since the conflict in the region in the 1990s.
According to UNJHRO, in 2022, 314 people, including 71 soldiers and 143 members of armed groups, were prosecuted in Congo for human rights violations and sexual violence.
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by: muthinimbevi