A week after the death of deputy and former minister Chérubin Okende, there is still no motive or culprit; but for the authorities, it is urgent to make progress in the investigation. Five months before the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the climate has become suffocating since this figure in local political life was found, shot in the head, in his Lexus parked on Congo-Japon Boulevard in the Limete district of Kinshasa on Thursday, July 13.
Chérubin Okende, spokesman for the party of Moïse Katumbi, the main rival of President Félix Tshisekedi in the race for the supreme magistracy in December, had disappeared several kilometers away the day before. He had been seen for the last time in the city center of the capital, in the parking lot of the Constitutional Court, where he was waiting for his bodyguard, who left to file a letter for him requesting the postponement of twenty-four hours of his hearing by the high court, which wanted to hear him on his declaration of assets.
Heinous crime or political assassination? On Wednesday, Firmin Mvonde, the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, considered that Chérubin Okende’s bodyguard was, at this stage of the investigation, “the first suspect”. His statements are not “constant”, specified the magistrate, adding that the bullet which “crossed the head” of the deputy did indeed leave his weapon, “found next to the body”. Arrested a few hours after the discovery of the body, this man who, according to our information, is a cousin by marriage of the victim, is questioned by the police, just like the driver of the deputy. “Other people”, whose identity has not been revealed, are being heard.
A version that does not convince the family of the former transport minister, who sees behind his death a “political assassination”. “No ballistics expertise has yet been done, nor has an autopsy been performed to determine the real causes of death, but the Attorney General is making sweeping statements. It’s not professional and it leads to believe that we want to make up the assassination, “laments a relative on condition of anonymity.
“Traces of dried mud”
“A car cleaner who works in the parking lot of the Constitutional Court told us that on July 12, he saw armed men dressed in civilian clothes entering the parking lot and asking Chérubin Okende to follow them. Then, outside the dealership, he says he saw men in military uniforms in a white Toyota pick-up truck. According to this witness, one of these men took the wheel of the MP’s vehicle while the latter took a seat in the back, “continues this relative, believing that the investigation is on the wrong track.
Reproaches were also made by Chérubin Okende’s party, Together for the Republic, whose leader, Moïse Katumbi, hastily interrupted his stay in Côte d’Ivoire, denouncing a “political” affair. “There is a lot of manipulation,” said Olivier Kamitatu, his spokesperson. Traces of dried mud were found on Chérubin Okende’s pants. Where do they come from? We found his seat belt fastened. How is it possible ? His wife says he never tied her up. The position in which the body was discovered suggests that there was a scene. »
“All this is part of a logic of persecution of Moïse Katumbi and his collaborators”, continues Olivier Kamitatu, accusing the Congolese authorities of being behind this murder. In recent months, the difficulties have multiplied for those close to the presidential candidate. At the end of May, one of his closest advisers, Salomon Idi Kalonda, was arrested, accused of colluding with rebels. Just before, Mike Mukebayi, an elected member of the party, had also been charged.
These accusations are “indecent”, according to Patrick Muyaya, the government spokesman: “We were accused right away. But who benefits from this crime? We are not making any profit from it, in a context where we are working to reassure the population about security, especially on the eve of the Games of La Francophonie [from July 28 to August 6 in Kinshasa] and the December elections. While Moïse Katumbi has asked the United Nations mission in the DRC to “conduct the investigations”, the government says it accepts that this investigation is international and promises that Belgium will send an expert “as soon as possible”. On Wednesday, prosecutor Firmin Mvonde added that South African and French investigators were also “expected”.
