DRC: a marriage certificate contested by the husband on the grounds of forgery before the Council of State

Kinshasa, July 15^th, 2026 (CPA).- A marriage certificate issued by the registrar at the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Burundi has been contested as a forgery, on Wednesday, during a hearing of the Council of State held at its headquarters in the municipality of Gombe, in the north of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The defendant has presented a document addressed to the appropriate authorities, claiming that she is married to the applicant, when this is false,” has declared the counsel for Mr K., the applicant, who is contesting the marriage certificate linking him to Ms Jeanine N. He has also stated that his client holds a certificate of single status legalised by the Ministry in charge of Foreign Affairs. On the basis of these facts, he has claimed the annulment of the effects of this decision, which “violates a right enshrined in the Constitution”. “The freedom to marry is a constitutional right that must be protected, and Ms N has fraudulently used this to prove a certain link between the two,” he has concluded. For Lawyer Didier Didima, representing the interests of the Republic in this case, he has raised two grounds that would prevent the Council of State from hearing this case.  “The registrar attached to the Burundian embassy is a civil servant; he is not a member of the government. Furthermore, the dispute concerns the substance of the matter, because she is seeking the annulment of a legal act, and we are here in summary proceedings where we must seek interim measures pending a decision on the main application”, he has argued. He has also emphasised that marriage is a right enshrined in the constitution, but it is not a civil liberty. After hearing all the parties, the presiding judge has closed the proceedings, granting the parties 24 hours to submit their closing submissions so that he could deliver his decision within the time limit laid down by law.