Kinshasa, April 28th, 2025 (CPA) – An organization has called for respect for the independence of the judiciary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), following the declaration of a group of parliamentarians demanding a stay of proceedings against former Prime Minister Matata, according to a press release consulted by CPA on its X account on Saturday. ‘The independence of the judiciary, in a state governed by the rule of law, must be respected by all, including parliamentarians’, read the statement on the X account of the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (Acaj). This civil society organization, led by Georges Kapiamba, also noted that the President of the Republic had reiterated the principle of the independence of the judiciary at the opening of the General Assembly of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary (CSM) held recently in Kinshasa. In a statement made on 25 April outside the hemicycle of the People’s House in Kinshasa, a group of MPs demanded that the trial of former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo, now a national MP, be adjourned.
They demanded that the Constitutional Court first request the lifting of their colleague’s parliamentary immunity, before proceeding with the trial. On the judicial side, the prosecutor at the Constitutional Court pointed out at the last hearing that this was a continuation of the trial that began when Matata Ponyo was a senator.