Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: During the early hours of 19 October 2005, gunmen broke into Gabrielle Mata Bakemba's and Chantal Marianne's apartment, and killed them.
During the early hours of 19 October 2005, gunmen broke into Gabrielle Mata Bakemba's and Chantal Marianne's apartment, and killed them. Their baby son survived. Gabrielle and Chantal worked for the Centre for Women's Rights for RFC, a widely respected Congolese human rights organisation, effectively signalling to the paramilitary groups operating with the support of the security forces that members of the organisation could be targeted. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the killing of women's rights defender Caroline. Caroline was shot dead in her office after she denounced military attacks in the municipality of Kamituga and highlighted the close links between military groups and the security forces. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of the man who has been officially accused of masterminding the murder, but once again the authorities have failed to take steps to arrest him. Several human rights groups were forced to close their offices after a spate of attacks against women's rights defenders. RFC continues to urge to ensure that all those responsible for the killings of human rights defenders, are brought to justice.
By the end of September, a number of arrests had been made in connection with the murder of Dr. Caroline, a prominent women's rights defender, who had worked for many years representing women prisoners, and relatives of the "disappeared"; she had also worked on many high profile cases of human rights violations committed by members of the security forces. Shortly before her murder she had denounced the role of the military intelligence unit in military activity and human rights violations. Despite the arrests, all those responsible for her death have yet to be brought to justice.
Campaigning by human rights organisations has played an important role in ensuring progress in these investigations. Yet those accused of masterminding the crimes remain apparently untouchable and even the limited progress made in these high profile investigations is an exception: the majority of human rights violations against human rights activists in Congo are committed with total impunity.