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.