Kinshasa, May 21st, 2025 (CPA) – The verdict in the trial between the military prosecutor’s office and the defendant Célestin Ngoma, prosecuted for treason and contact with an insurrectionary movement, was postponed until Wednesday 28 May, during a mobile court hearing at Ndolo prison in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). ‘The court said it was not ready at the moment to pronounce sentence before suspending the case and adjourning it to Wednesday, May 28th, 2025’, said Kevin Ikoka, the defendant’s lawyer. At today’s hearing, the court is expected to rule on two issues submitted for its consideration, in particular whether to grant provisional release and to respond on the basis of a decision before ruling on the law, he added. ‘That is why, during this hearing, we raised a number of objections, a number of procedural incidents, in particular and principally the rejection of a certain number of Minutes (PV) that had been drawn up irregularly’, he said. The defendant, Célestin Ngoma, permanent secretary and spokesman for the Parti Lumumbiste Unifié (PALU), is charged with treason and being in contact with an insurrectionary movement. Of the two charges brought by the prosecution, the defendant is seeking a sentence of 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for the latter.
Trial of the permanent secretary of a political party: sentencing set for next Wednesday
The defendant and his lawyers at the hearing