Following the release of the autopsy results of Chérubin Okende, significant reactions have emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Congolese Attorney General’s Office concluded that Chérubin Okende died by suicide on the night of July 13 to 14, 2023, in Kinshasa.
After seven months of investigation, the prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday, February 29, that “the autopsy” and “expert analyses” had determined that the opposition figure had “committed suicide.” They disclosed an agenda purportedly written by Okende, expressing feelings of being at the end of his tether.
In the DRC, Chérubin Okende’s body was found under murky circumstances on July 13, 2023, seated in his car on a boulevard in Kinshasa. The investigation into the death of the political opponent concluded it was a suicide on Thursday, February 29.
This outcome has been contested by the family of the former Minister of Transport and opposition member, as well as by his party, Ensemble pour la République. Reactions to the autopsy results have been numerous. On Friday, March 1, the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ) expressed deep disappointment with the prosecutor’s conclusion. Jean-Claude Katende, President of the African Association for Human Rights, criticized the conclusion as “ridiculous.”
The citizen movement, Lucha, deemed the investigation’s conclusions “utterly scandalous and revolting,” as stated by Stewart Muhindo, a member of the organization. “All the photos, all the initial elements of the case, even when analyzed by a novice, suggest foul play, and it’s incomprehensible that the judiciary would conclude it was suicide,” he remarked.