BUKAVU, Congo (AP) — The trial of 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes against civilians in the country’s conflict-battered east opened Monday.
The soldiers are accused of having broken into civilian homes in several villages of the Kabare and Kalehe territories in the eastern province of South Kivu over the weekend. They allegedly raped several women and killed at least 12 people, Pascal Mupenda, one of the lawyers representing the civilian victims said.
“They turned their weapons against the civilian population that they were supposed to protect, while the enemy was at our doors,†Mupenda told The Associated Press, adding that more accused soldiers will be brought to trial in the coming days.
The accused soldiers were brought before a military court in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu, on Monday. The civil party requested the death penalty for all of the accused. Congo on the death penalty in March, a decision criticized by rights activists. The last execution took place in 2003.
Zawadi Chapo Ombeni, a resident of Kavumu, said he was beaten and robbed by soldiers as he was preparing to flee the village from the rebels' advances.
“We were robbed by military personnel known by the state, that are serving the state,†Ombeni told the AP over the phone. “We ask the state to compensate us because everything we had was taken away by these military personnel.â€
The trial comes as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are reportedly advancing on Bukavu after having in the neighboring North Kivu province. Some 3,000 people have been killed and nearly as many injured since late January.
Last week, the rebels announced a unilateral ceasefire to facilitate humanitarian aid, but the Congolese government later dismissed that as a “false communication.â€
On Thursday, the rebels were advancing into South Kivu province and were 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Bukavu, according to Nene Bintou, president of the civil society in the province.
The rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts. They are the most potent of the more than , which holds vast mineral deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.
On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council , including rapes and summary executions, committed by both Congo's army and M23 in eastern Congo since the beginning of the year.
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Kabumba reported from Goma, Congo. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo contributed to this report.
