Floribert Chebeya: A DRC police officer has been sentenced to death for murder.

A high-ranking police officer in Congo has been sentenced to death for his role in the 2010 murder of human rights activist Floribert Chebeya, which sparked a national outcry.

Police Commissioner Christian Ngoy Kenga Kenga was convicted of murder, desertion, and weapon and ammunition misappropriation.

In Kinshasa, Mr. Chebeya's body was discovered chained and gagged in his automobile.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, capital punishment is prohibited.

The death penalty, however, has not been abolished, and military courts continue to impose it.

Jacques Migabo, another police officer, was condemned to 12 years in prison during the trial.

Mr. Chebeya and his driver, Fidèle Bazana, were strangled, he admitted.

According to UN-sponsored Radio Okapi, Police Commissioner Paul Mwilambwe, who was a major witness in the prosecution, was acquitted.

Mr. Mwilambwe, who had been on the run since the murder and was only repatriated last year, accused ex-President Joseph Kabila and former police chief General John Numbi of ordering the assassination.

Mr. Kabila and Gen Numbi have made no public statements, although the general has been charged with the murder of Mr. Chebeya and his chauffeur by a military court.

He has left the nation and his current location is unknown.

Kenga, Migabo, and Mr. Mwilambwe were first condemned to death in 2011, and Kenga was caught in Lubumbashi in 2020 before the case was re-opened in September.

Mr. Chebeya was the founder of the Congolese charity Voice of the Voiceless, and as a vocal critic of the government, he received constant death threats during his 20-year career.

On the day he was slain, he went to the police headquarters to meet Gen Numbi, the then-head of the national police force.

Mr. Bazana, his driver, went missing on the same day, and officials later declared him dead.

Mr. Chebeya's assassination drew considerable worldwide outrage.