DRC (Kinshasa) : Dr. Sebitetereko is finally free

Lazare Sebitetereko was released as part of an initiative by Congolese authorities to reduce prison overcrowding. On Sunday, September 22 and on Monday, 1,685 prisoners were released.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

A family member of Dr. Lazare Sebitetereko confirmed his release to SOS Médias Burundi on Monday.

Arrested in June 2023 by Congolese military intelligence before being sent to the very overcrowded Makala prison in the capital Kinshasa, Lazare Sebitetereko was suspected of collaborating with the Twirwaneho armed group composed of members of the Banyamulenge community from which he comes and with the M23, the main rebellion that occupies a large part of the North Kivu province in eastern Congo. In a letter he wrote from prison last April, he explained that he is “a political prisoner, unjustly detained”.

Several human rights organizations at the national, continental and global levels have consistently demanded the release of Dr. Sebitetereko, speaking of an urgent need to restore justice and rebuild trust in the South Kivu region.

Dr. Sebitetereko is known in this region especially in Minembwe for his development projects not only for his community but also for other tribes including the Banyindu, Bafulero and Babembe. These include the construction of universities, hospitals, without mentioning agricultural and livestock projects. Until his arrest while he was traveling to Burundi, he was often called upon in reconciliation sessions between communities.

Recently, on the sidelines of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Gatumba massacres in western Burundi that took the lives of more than 160 Congolese refugees, Azarias Ruberwa, former vice-president of Congo (2003-2006) recalled in Phoenix in the state of Arizona in the southwest of the United States that “the Banyamulenge are targeted by genocide and ethnic cleansing”, citing reports from advisers of the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Returning to the imprisonment of Sebitetereko and several other members of the Banyamulenge community including young people “unjustly arrested”, the former vice-president of the DRC called on the Banyamulenge to “fight for our survival because the world has no pity”. Mr. Ruberwa deplored the illegal imprisonments suffered by members of the Banyamulenge community which are sometimes accompanied by the deaths of prisoners, recalling the emblematic case of Dr. Lazare Sebitetereko.

Chancellor of the Ebenezer University of Minembwe, the former prisoner had never been brought before a judge since his arrest, more than a year ago.

Congolese prisons are very overcrowded. The one in Makala where Sebitetereko was detained has a capacity of 1,500 prisoners. Built in 1957 during the colonial period, it hosted more than 15,000 at the end of July when the Congolese Minister in charge of justice, Constant Mutamba, launched the operation to decongest penitentiary houses.

Many detainees in an advanced state of physical disrepair have been released, SOS Médias Burundi has learned. Despite this operation, several independent organizations speak of a “less effective” measure because many other arrests followed by constant detentions continue to be listed. Minister Mutamba has banned any transfer of unconvicted detainees to the prisons of Makala and Ndolo, especially in the capital Kinshasa, unless he makes a special exemption, in an attempt to remedy this.

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Dr. Lazare Sebitetereko released after more than a year of detention deemed illegal by human rights groups (SOS Médias Burundi)