The president of the DRC asks to “clarify” the murder of the spokesman of an important opposition party

July 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, has condemned the assassination of the spokesman for the prominent opposition figure Moise Katumbi and has demanded that what happened “be clarified” so that those responsible for the event are held accountable.

“The President, Félix Tshisekedi, has learned with dismay of the tragic disappearance of Mr. Chérubin Okende, former Minister of Transport,” said the Congolese Presidency through its account on the social network Twitter.

Thus, he has indicated that the head of state “presents his condolences to his family and all the people close to Okende” and “asks the Justice to fully clarify this matter to punish those guilty of this ignoble act.”

Along these lines, the president of the National Assembly, Christophe Mboso, has also requested “comprehensive and inclusive investigations in all aspects to identify and punish the perpetrators of this atrocious crime to the fullest extent of the law,” as reported by the Radio Okapi station.

For his part, the Congolese government spokesman, Patrick Muyaya, stated on his Twitter account that “the government has ordered all security services to carry out a thorough investigation into this inadmissible act.”

Likewise, the Congolese attorney general, Jean-Paul Mukolo Nkokesha, has revealed that Okende’s body was found “inside his vehicle, with the seat belt on and the engine running.” “A weapon has been found next to the deceased. The first elements reveal that he died from a shot,” he stressed.

“I would like to report that the main suspect is in the hands of justice, who is going to appear before the Prosecutor’s Office,” he stressed, without giving further details about the identity of the detainee, as reported by the Congolese news portal 7sur7.

Katumbi himself, candidate for the Presidency in the DRC, called the death of Okende, spokesman for the Juntos por la República party, a “political murder”. The man’s body was found on a street in the center of the capital, Kinshasa.

“I am very angry, I am very sad. It is a political assassination of Chérubin, who was the voice of the party,” Katumbi lamented in statements to Radio France Internationale, where he denounced a persecution to try to silence him and demanded an independent investigation to “find out the TRUE”.

“It was an ambush (…) How far are we going in this country? Where is the rule of law if we have to kill someone because they do not agree with the way the country works?”, he asked, before to ensure that Okende’s death “will not go unpunished”.