Kinshasa, August 4th 2025 (CPA).- Judicial police officers (OPJ) responsible for arbitrary arrests were apprehended on Monday by inspectors from the Congolese National Police (IG-PNC) during an inspection organised by the general inspector of this force in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. « This mission consists in particular of checking detention conditions, the regularity of arrest documents and the length of detention in urban police stations, police stations (Ciat) and sub-police stations (sous-Ciat) , » has said Deputy Senior Commissioner Barnabé Yonoyeno, police inspector in charge of the mission in Kinshasa Lukunga, during the deployment. « One of them was quickly apprehended. It appears that a sub-police stations was set on fire, and the police began to question passers-by.
When he was found, it was discovered that he was a minor. He was therefore released, because as a child, he cannot be questioned for the record. He was released, even though his family was not aware of his arrest, » has continued Deputy Senior Commissioner Barnabé Yonoyono, before the release of these minors at the Pompage urban police station located in the commune of Ngaliema, in western Kinshasa. Furthermore, at the Mimosas police station, IG-PNC inspectors have deplored the irregularities on the part of the station commander regarding the detainees’ police reports. According to them, these irregularities constitute a failure to respect procedures.
Police inspectors in the cell of a police station
‘I was in a bar when suddenly a fight broke out between the people around me, and when the police arrived, they arrested me on the pretext that I was part of that group. When I arrived at the sub-police stations no one has questioned me before putting me in the cell,’ has explained Christian Luzolana, a detainee found at the scene. In every urban police station, sub and sub-police stations where the police inspectors went, there were cases of human rights violations such as arbitrary arrests, poor prison conditions, failure to follow procedures, and the detention of minors in cells.
The police officers apprehended during this operation were taken to the General Inspection of the Police to provide explanations to the inspectors. Other cases found in flagrante delicto were also arrested. The population, moved with joy, praised the work of the General Inspector of the Congolese National Police. This operation, launched at the beginning of the year by the general inspector of the IG-PNC, aims, among other things, to ensure that police officers respect human rights, to punish police officers who tarnish the image of the force, to restore the image of the police and to maintain trust between the population and the police.