Kinshasa, May 29th, 2025 (CPA)- The report of a High Military Court delegation that interviewed victims of the Yumbi massacres who had not travelled to Kinshasa was presented to the parties to the trial on Thursday, during a hearing held at the Ndolo military prison in northern Kinshasa.
‘We had fulfilled the mission assigned to us, as specified in the preliminary ruling, Mr. President. This mission consisted of hearing the victims who had not travelled from Kinshasa, certain informants, and the local authorities. The HMC team, led to Yumbi by the composition’s reporting counsellor, accompanied by the public prosecutor and the civil and defense lawyers, visited several villages, in particular Nkolo, Mongama, Bongende, Mansele and Yumbi’, said Colonel Muka Mbombo, head of the delegation, in the report read out by the clerk of the HMC.
This report, he said, covered all the tasks carried out in execution of the preliminary ruling. ‘The witnesses, the information and even some of the victims we interviewed made their statements, which are contained in the minutes in the case file,’ added Colonel Muka Mbombo, After the presentation of this report, the high military court proceeded with the projection of images of the hearings held on site in Yumbi. The Yumbi massacres took place on December 16th and 17th, 2018, when at least 890 people, most of them Banunus, were killed in Yumbi, Mai-Ndombe province and in three other neighbouring villages, 400 km north of Kinshasa, and 465 houses and buildings were burnt down or looted, including public facilities. The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, June 2nd, 2025. CPA/