OPPOSITION LAWYER CHARGED WITH INSURRECTION, ARMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001882 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2016 TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM CG SUBJECT: OPPOSITION LAWYER CHARGED WITH INSURRECTION, ARMS POSSESSION REF: KINSHASA 1777 Classified By: PolOff TJNaber, reasons 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (C) Summary: Marie-Therese Nlandu Mpolo-Mene, a senior official during the Mobutu regime and an ally of Jean-Pierre Bemba, was charged by a military court December 11 with incitement to overthrow the government and with possession of illegal firearms. Kinshasa Special Police had arrested Nlandu November 21, hours after a riot by Bemba supporters at the Supreme Court (reftel). Though Amnesty International and some Congolese human rights groups have characterized Nlandu as a political prisoner, the government claims it has strong evidence to support the charges against her. End summary. Prominent Bemba Supporter Charged -------------- ¶2. (U) Marie-Therese Nlandu Mpolo-Mene, a lawyer for the alliance of presidential runner-up Jean-Pierre Bemba and a political figure in her own right, appeared at the Gombe Military Tribunal in Kinshasa December 11 to face charges of incitement to overthrow the government and of possession of illegal firearms. According to press accounts, Military Prosecutor Nkulu Katende Homere claimed Nlandu "was at the center of the destruction of the Supreme Court," which Bemba supporters burned November 21. ¶3. (SBU) The incitement charges rest on incendiary statements Nlandu reportedly made on November 21. According to press accounts, she told Bemba supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court: "There is no one to protect us. What good is MONUC? What good is EUFOR? What good is the Congolese army? We ask of the Congolese people: become sovereign over your own army. You are stronger than all the armies in the world. Arise!" Immediately thereafter, the prosecutor charged, Bemba supporters pillaged the offices of the Supreme Court and set fire to the building. ¶4. (C) The second charge of illegal possession of arms originated with the arrest by Kinshasa Special Service Police of six Nlandu associates November 20 with grenades and other weapons in a vehicle owned by Nlandu and driven by her driver. (Note: This took place the day prior to Nlandu's fiery speech and the subsequent attack by Bemba supporters on the Supreme Court. End Note.) Nlandu's lawyer, Joseph Mukendi, told us the associates are former members of the Zairian Armed Forces (FAZ),the Mobutu-era army, and had been based in Brazzaville. Nlandu provided legal representation to the group in the past. Presidential Security Adviser Samba Kaputo told Charge on December 19 that two of the suspects had earlier escaped from prison where they were serving time for involvement in the 2001 assassination of Laurent Kabila. Nlandu's driver told police he did not know the others and had transported them on Nlandu's instructions. Nlandu's defense -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Nlandu's lawyer Mukendi told the court December 11 that his client's arrest was "political intimidation." He questioned the legitimacy of a military court to bring the charges. (Note: In the DRC, weapons-related incidents are heard by military, rather than civilian, tribunals. End note.) ¶6. (SBU) Mukendi did not directly address the salient points of the weapons charge: that the arrested men had weapons, were associated with Nlandu, and were being transported by her driver at her request. He said her defense is that she was not in the car with the men and cannot comment on whether they had weapons. ¶7. (SBU) Mukendi told us the military tribunal sent the charges to a lower military court. No date has been announced for the beginning of the trial. A Mobutu Connection -------------- ¶8. (U) Nlandu, in her early 50s, is a prominent Mobutu-era figure from a well-connected Congolese political family now living in Paris. She joined Jean-Pierre Bemba's Union for the Nation (UfN) electoral coalition and was a member of the legal team that presented Bemba's appeal of the October 29 presidential elections. She had run for president herself in KINSHASA 00001882 002 OF 002 the July 30 first round, winning 35,587 votes, or 0.2 percent of the total. ¶9. (U) Nlandu's father is an ethnic Yombe and co-founder of the Bas-Congo ABAKO party with Joseph Kasa-Vubu, the country's first president. Nlandu graduated from the University of Kinshasa in law and served as Secretary General of the Republic under Mobutu. She is married to Mbala Nkondi, a former Mobutu minister of public works. Her sister Wivine was also a first-round presidential candidate. Wivine is married to Nguz a Karl I Bond, Mobutu's prime minister from 1991-1992, for whom Marie-Therese served as chief of staff. Advocates Protest -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The Nlandu case has been the subject of attention by human rights groups since her November 21 arrest, including Amnesty International (AI) and some Congolese human rights organizations. Some opposition Congolese expatriates in Europe characterize her as "a prisoner of conscience." Nlandu's prominent Paris-based family released a statement calling the charges politically motivated and blaming "the Rwando-Tanzanian impostor, mercenary, and taxi driver Joseph Kabila." ¶11. (SBU) AI reported that the six men arrested with grenades were shown on Congolese television with the weapons. At least one appeared to have a wound on his chest, and AI expressed concern that it may have been the result of torture. It said others bore marks of having been tightly bound around their elbows. ¶12. (SBU) According to AI, Mukendi did not report that Nlandu had been ill-treated. However, a local NGO, the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH),claimed that police treated her like a "common criminal," made her go barefoot, and threw her into a police car. The NGO alleged that she was held in a small cell together with the six men and conducted a 48-hour hunger strike before being allowed to talk to her lawyer November 24. (Note: The prison met the Congolese constitutional requirement to allow her contact with her lawyer within 48 hours of arrest.) Mukendi told us she had asked to be released to receive treatment for high blood pressure. Comment: Why Nlandu? -------------- ¶13. (C) Nlandu's advocates have failed to explain why she, of all Bemba's many supporters, would have been singled out for arbitrary arrest. Of the 32 failed presidential candidates, only Nlandu has been arrested and charged with serious crimes. Many presidential candidates turned Bemba supporters made far more incendiary comments or led protests that devolved into riots. A few were sanctioned by the High Authority on Media; a few spent the night in jail or had their homes temporarily surrounded by police. Many of these individuals had fewer political connections, both in the Congo and abroad, and would have made easier targets to attack for their political views. Presidency officials say they are convinced the case against Nlandu is strong, claiming there is substantial incriminating evidence, apparently even including intercepted telephone conversations. End comment. DOUGHERTY