Leaders of the Congolese opposition and their supporters participated on Wednesday March 20 in the Kinshasa cathedral in the funeral of the opponent Chérubin Okende, who died in July 2023 and whose justice concluded it was "suicide", far from the thesis of the assassination proposed by those close to him. Chérubin Okende was the spokesperson for Ensemble pour la République, the party of opponent Moïse Katumbi, a wealthy businessman and unsuccessful candidate in the December presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Minister of Transport who resigned under the first five-year term of Félix Tshisekedi, Mr. Okende was found dead on July 13, 2023, his body bloodied, sitting at the wheel of his car on a boulevard in Kinshasa. Voices were then raised to demand an independent investigation.
The Congolese prosecutor's office announced on February 29 that the "autopsy" and "expertise" had established that Chérubin Okende had "committed suicide", which his relatives reject. “We don’t believe he committed suicide at all. Chérubin was murdered, he was killed in the most savage way,” said Georges Onyema, family representative, during the funeral.
“Absurd conclusion of the investigation”
This thesis was also taken up by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, in his homily: “The absurd conclusion of the investigation is proof that the justice system of our country is truly sick,” he underlined. . “How can we understand that a father as attentive as Chérubin, who had just married his daughter, shot himself after a long walk in the city? “, asked the prelate. Banners held up outside the cathedral read “Cherub Okende victim of intolerance”, and that he had “resisted evil until the supreme sacrifice”.
In connection with this affair, Congolese journalist Stanis Bujakera, correspondent for Jeune Afrique magazine in Kinshasa, was arrested in September 2023, tried and subsequently sentenced to six months in prison. He was released from prison on Tuesday March 19 and the next day joined the editorial staff of the online newspaper Actualité.cd, where he is deputy publishing director.
Mr. Okende resigned from his post as Minister of Transport in December 2022, while Mr. Katumbi, head of his political party, had just announced his candidacy for the presidential election and the withdrawal of his party from the ruling coalition.
Former governor of the mining region of Katanga, Moïse Katumbi was present at the funeral mass alongside other opposition figures, notably Jaynet Kabila, twin sister of former president Joseph Kabila, and Martin Fayulu, another unsuccessful presidential candidate in December 2023.
