Kinshasa, April 8th, 2025 (CPA)- Nineteen (19) magistrates have been sanctioned since 2022, according to the president of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSM) of the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, at the first ordinary general assembly held since its creation in 2008. ‘In disciplinary terms, between 2022 and the present day, 19 magistrates have been punished for taking sides,’ said Dieudonné Kamuleta, chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council. ‘Lastly, 113 disciplinary cases are currently being examined by the competent bodies, with 29 judgments handed down to date, including seven acquittals, eight cases declared inadmissible and eight cases in which the judges were sentenced to the penalties provided for in the texts in force’, he added. He also urged the members of the commission responsible for dealing with issues relating to the career and discipline of magistrates to work rigorously to ensure that the justice system was put on a sounder footing.
‘I urge the members of this committee to examine career and disciplinary issues rigorously’, he said. ‘The Supreme Council of the Judiciary must show that it is not a sanctuary for untouchables, but a body concerned with cleaning up the justice system’, added Dieudonné Kamuleta. He also announced that this commission would also have to consider how to guarantee all Congolese access to local justice.
Under the banner of ‘the rebirth of a judiciary at the service of the people’. The theme of this ordinary session of the General Assembly, which the Chairman of the CSM believes to be a first in its history since its creation in 2008, is ‘the rebirth of a judiciary at the service of the people’. Dieudonné Kamuleta pointed out that all previous General Assemblies were held only in extraordinary sessions, at intervals of up to three or even five years, whereas the law requires that at least one ordinary session be held each year. He pointed out that this theme was taken from the address given by the President of the Republic on July 15th, 2023, on the occasion of the opening of the training of 2,500 new civil and military magistrates from the class of 2023. In this address, President Tshisekedi urged the judiciary to work towards promoting a more transparent, equitable and accessible justice system. The work of this first ordinary general meeting was launched by the President of the Republic in the presence of all the members of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary.