Democratic Republic of the Congo - July 2023

Member of parliament, former cabinet minister, and spokesman for the opposition party Together for the Republic (Ensemble pour la République), Chérubin Okende was found murdered on 13 July. Okende had disappeared the day before, last seen waiting in a car outside the Constitutional Court while his driver delivered documents. Party leader Moïse Katumbi described the killing as a political assassination. Okende’s death comes less than six months before presidential elections in which Katumbi will be one of the candidates running against President Félix Tshisekedi and follows the arrests of at least three other prominent members of Ensemble pour la Republique. President Tshisekedi called on the judiciary to investigate and punish those responsible.

Sources: Le Monde, Libération, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Radio France Internationale