AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MARIE THERESE NLANDU

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 000527 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KDEM KJUS CG SUBJECT: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MARIE THERESE NLANDU REF: A. KINSHASA 502 ¶B. KINSHASA 279 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Bemba attorney and unsuccessful presidential candidate Marie Therese Nlandu gave an exclusive interviewto Poloff in which she outlined her side of the vents that led to her arrest on charges of insurretion and weapons possession. She also explained why she thought she was acquitted and described in detail what she called a pattern of political arrests. While Nlandu's story stretched credibility at times, much of it is supported by local and international human rights organizations. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Congolese politician and Bemba lawyer Marie Therese Nlandu and one of her attorneys, Maitre Mutombo, visited Poloff at the embassy May 7, one week after being acquitted of government charges that she had instigated the November 21 burning of the Supreme Court. Nlandu thanked Poloff for attending several of her court hearings. "This was the reason I was liberated," she claimed. Nlandu appeared to be suffering from headaches and the effects of nearly four months in prison. She said she would leave May 10 for the UK to visit her family there. -------------- Nlandu gives her side of the story -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Nlandu recounted how she viewed the key events leading to her arrest. She said that when police arrested six of her employees and Pastor Jose Inongo on November 20, her vehicle had split from the one carrying the group only moments earlier. She claimed police would have killed her had she been arrested with the others, although she provided no evidence to support this view. ¶4. (SBU) Nlandu asserted that she, and not other Bemba supporters, was targeted for arrest for two reasons. First, she said she was able to calm the crowd outside the Supreme Court on November 20 when no one else could, showing the government that she was a strong and powerful voice to be reckoned with. Second, she claimed the government was afraid that if she continued as Bemba's lawyer, he would win his election challenge before the Supreme Court. ¶5. (SBU) She acknowledged that Bemba did not once visit her in prison, although his wife did. She insisted she was not angry at his "abandonment" of her, saying she had "borne her cross for her country." -------------- How and why they won the case �A; -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Nlandu attorney Mutombo said the defense team became optimistic about her eventual acquittal when the tapes of a Nlandu interview, in which she allegedly urged supporters to insurrection, were played for the military judges (ref A). He said that as it became apparent that Nlandu was inside the Supreme Court building during the violence outside which led to its burning, the lawyers knew the government case was flawed. He said he believed the judges repeatedly postponed the hearings because they knew the case was weak and were trying to find a politically expedient way to dismiss it. ¶7. (SBU) Nlandu called the military judges "courageous." She expressed concern they would lose their jobs or face persecution because of the acquittal and claimed a judge she knew had been fired in 2005 for reaching the wrong verdict. She and Mutombo agreed that military prosecutor Homere Nkulu was singularly inept, although noting that he had won convictions in similar cases before. ¶8. (SBU) Regarding Inonga and the two former Mobutu-era soldiers caught in the act of setting fire to the Supreme Court, Nlandu asserted they were acquitted because they were working for the government. She said the "Pastor" had set her up and claimed the two soldiers had been paid to testify that she gave them orders to start the Supreme Court fire. -------------- Fears for allies and opposition -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Nlandu alleged that her employees still suffered KINSHASA 00000527 002 OF 002 the after-effects of torture by police. In particular, she claimed police had tortured her driver in such a way that he fears having been rendered sterile. She reported that she advised her co-defendants upon release to "disappear, go to the provinces, stay out of sight." Mutombo said he feared for his life and requested visa assistance from the U.S. Embassy. (Note: Poloff instructed him to speak with the consular section directly and to register with MONUC Human Rights Division, which is maintaining contact with people who feel endangered because of their association with the opposition. End note.) ¶10. (SBU) Nlandu also pled for international assistance to secure the release of some 400 people (her estimate) being held in jails and prisons in Kinshasa as "opposition." (Note: MONUC Human Rights division estimates 200 detainees following the events of March 22-23. Bemba advisor Delly Sesanga cited a precise figure of 68 in a meeting with Poloffs May 8. End note.) Nlandu claimed the detainees included minors, an allegation confirmed by MONUC. She also said she had met a young woman while in prison who said she had been detained because hers was the final number dialed on a phone confiscated from another "opposition" detainee. Nlandu called for the international community to apply political and economic pressure on the Congolese government to free these prisoners. ¶11. (SBU) Nlandu said she doubted President Kabila knew about all the detainees, but added that he "certainly knew about" her detention and had declined to intervene, saying it was a matter for the justice system to decide. ¶12. (SBU) Nlandu asserted military prosecutor Nkulu told her upon her release that he would have her back in prison within three months. Although she claimed not to fear prison after surviving her ordeal, Nlandu indeed left the DRC May 10 for "at least two months." She told Poloff she wants to return to the DRC "not in a political role," but to resume her law practice. ¶13. (SBU) Comment. Nlandu's account of her experiences clearly contains elements of truth as well as speculation. For example, her assertion that had she not been arrested Jean Pierre Bemba's claim on the presidency would have been upheld is fantasy. However, the detention of suspected Bemba supporters and her fears for her employees have been echoed by MONUC and human rights organizations. Post will continue to monitor these allegations and report any developments septel. End comment. MEECE