Kinshasa, April 9th, 2025 (CPA) – Pleadings in the trial of assistant divisional commissioner Padhes Murhula (defendant), prosecuted for arbitrary arrest of Omba Lumumba (civil party), were set for April 16th at a hearing on Wednesday at the High Military Court in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘Debate in today’s hearing is suspended and the case is adjourned until next week, according to the calendar. At this hearing, the High Military Court will give the floor to all the parties for their pleadings’, declared the president of the composition. During the hearing, the various parties attended the reading of the minutes of one of the witnesses at the Auditorat Général. At the previous hearing, the High Court had adjourned the case to allow the minutes to be read.
‘As this witness could not be summoned to appear before the High Court, it was a matter of reading the statements or depositions he had already made to the public prosecutor’, explained Vincent Lonombe, one of the lawyers representing the defendant’s counsel. At the hearing, after reading the witness’s statement, the court sent the parties back to prepare their closing arguments. Deputy Divisional Commissioner Padhes Murhula Mweze, former commander of the town of Lusambo in Sankuru (central DRC), is being prosecuted and tried on four counts, namely arbitrary arrest, torture, infringement of the rights and freedoms guaranteed to individuals, and theft with violence. The events date back to December 20th, 2023. He had arbitrarily detained Vital Omba Lumumba, who was then a candidate for the provincial deputation, accusing him of being responsible for the disturbances that marred the town during these elections.