Kinshasa, May 15th, 2025 (CPA) – Two new judicial works, including the bulletin of rulings by the High Military Court on the ‘Sheka case’ and the Congolese Military Judge’s Guide, were presented to legal practitioners on Thursday at a ceremony organized in the north of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘The case of Ntabo Ntaberi alias Sheka, the judgment of which is contained in the bulletin of judgments of the High Military Court to be named shortly, has been in the news since the attacks on the civilian population attributed to the armed group Nguma Defense of Congo (NDC) in 2010’, said Lieutenant-General Magistrate Joseph Mutombo Katalay, President of the High Military Court. He pointed out that the attacks by this armed group had taken place in Walikale and Masisi territories, in the province of North Kivu. The trial of four (4) defendants accused in this case ended with a ruling by the Operational Military Court of North Kivu delivered in Goma on November 23rd, 2020. Lieutenant-General Mutombo added that the defendants had received heavy sentences, including life imprisonment for serious charges including war crimes by murder and rape, and crimes against humanity by enlisting children. He also noted that 344 people had filed civil suits in the case, and 96 hearings had been held by the Operational Military Court of North Kivu.
Ricardo Maia, representative of the United Nations Deputy Secretary General, said that this trial was an emblematic case in terms of the prosecution and trial of international crimes. ‘The judgment handed down by this court represents the conclusions of a remarkable piece of work in the management and conduct of trials’, he said. He also pointed out that this work is also a source of teaching for legal practitioners and future generations of magistrates, who will find in this instrument a source of inspiration for cases relating to international crimes. With regard to the ‘Guide for Military Judges’, Ricardo Maia pointed out that this working tool is useful for all legal practitioners in that it brings together a number of lessons on procedural rules and laws that will not only promote the ongoing training of judicial actors, but also the effective management of trials. For his part, Colonel Hyppolite Ndaka, Advocate General of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC), outlined the background to the Sheka case in the following terms: ‘Sheka, whose real name is Ntabo Ntaberi, was born in Walikale. He was a mining operator who worked in the artisanal exploitation of minerals and trafficking until 2007, when he decided to create his own movement with the aim of protecting his population, which had been the victim of several atrocities by the FDLR’. ‘Curiously, in 2010, he joined forces with the same FDLR to organize an expedition to Walikale. His troops systematically raped all the women of the village, of all ages, for 4 days, the oldest of the more than 300 women raped being 87 years old’, he added.
As for the book ‘Guide for Congolese military judges’, Brigadier General Freddy Mukendi, legal adviser to the Military High Court, explained the main points. ‘This 175-page work comprises 10 chapters, apart from the introduction, which deals with the role and powers of the presiding judge at a military court hearing. These chapters include those on the probative value and assessment of evidence, exceptions and incidents in military criminal proceedings, the powers of the public prosecutor at a military court hearing, and the classification, disqualification and re-characterization of facts in military criminal law’, he said. ‘The theme of the ceremony was ‘good practice in the management and conduct of military justice trials, including international crimes’.