DRC says it won’t execute Norwegian nationals accused of murder
The Democratic Republic of Congo has assured Norway that two of its nationals sentenced to death for the murder of a taxi driver, arms smuggling and spying will not be executed. Norway’s foreign minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, said he had received the guarantee from his DRC counterpart, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, after the Norwegians lost their appeal at a recent military tribunal. The DRC has had a moratorium on the death penalty since the end of a brutal civil war in 2003, which killed millions of people. The tribunal ordered Norway and the men to pay $500 million in damages. Reports say the men will again appeal their sentences, this time in Kinshasa's Supreme Court. They denied they murdered Abedi Kasongo, saying he was shot and killed when their car was ambushed near the city of Kisangani. The entire eastern part of the former Belgian colony is still in chaos, as some 18,000 UN-backed troops help battle the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Read more: BBC, Afrol News, UN News Centre
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