Around 10 percent of the DRC’s population are Muslim, most concentrated in the country’s east
KINSHASA, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thirty people have been sentenced to death by a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC for their roles in deadly post-Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr riot.
Judicial sources confirmed that the sentence was handed down Saturday (May 15) after a one-day trial into violence that killed a policeman and left scores injured outside the Kinshasa Martyrs Stadium on Thursday.
A lawyer for the accuseds, Chief Tshipamba, as confirming the sentence.
The sprawling country which straddles Central and southern Africa has not carried out death penalties since a moratorium was introduced in 2003. Since then, death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment.
The violence erupted after rival Muslim groups clashed over the rights to observe the Eid prayers at the stadium.
Police chief of the capital, Sylvano Kasongo, said around 40 people were hurt and 35 had been arrested.
Around 10 percent of the DRC’s population are Muslim, most concentrated in the country’s east. — NNN-AGENCIES
