Pleas to International Community as Congo Judges 'Ignore' Human Rights Lawyer

The trial of Marie Therese Nlandu, the human rights lawyer detained in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since November 2006, was mired by further confusion after military judges failed to attend the tribunal for the second time in eight days.

A reportedly "very weak" Mrs Nlandu was brought to court on 21 February, after the judges had previously failed to turn up at the court on 14 February. Once again the judges failed to arrive. There has been no official explanation by the Congolese authorities for either incident, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has told Christian Today.

These events come only weeks after three prosecution witnesses admitted in court on 31 January that they had received money from the government to incriminate Mrs Nlandu. As a result, the case against Mrs Nlandu appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

As the case against her has been increasingly shown to lack substance, local sources describe the non-appearance of the military judges as the latest ploy to indefinitely extend Mrs Nlandu's imprisonment and to deny her access to much needed medical attention.

The Nlandu case has increasingly attracted diplomatic attention with the European Union, the United Nations Mission to Congo and the British Government monitoring the situation.

On 21 February an Early Day Motion was tabled in the House of Commons calling on the Congolese government to guarantee that Mrs Nlandu's case and that of her colleagues was being dealt with fairly and quickly and that Mrs Nlandu has access to adequate medical treatment.

Mrs Nlandu's four children and husband, all living in London, continue to fear for her safety and are deeply distressed at what they believe to be a significant injustice being committed by the Congolese government.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide's Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, today says: "In his inaugural address as elected President of the DRC, Joseph Kabila called on the Congolese people 'to show the world that the DRC is a state of law, being irreversibly committed to the way of democracy for its institutions'. The treatment meted out to Mrs Nlandu's would seem to indicate that this is far from being the case, since the non-appearance of military judges suggests high-level sanction for the undermining of the judicial process in this instance.

"CSW again calls on the international community, and particularly the UN Mission to Congo (MONUC), to hold Mr Kabila to his promise to honour democracy and the rule of law as it pertains to Mrs Nlandu. In addition, given the lack of incriminating evidence, CSW also calls on the Congolese government to ensure Mrs Nlandu's unconditional release and immediate access to the medical attention that she clearly requires."