Four people presumably involved in a fatal robbery at a gas station in Oyo, Sassou-Nguesso’s plush village, were tracked down, arrested, taken somewhere, and executed by police.
On September 26, 2024, we reported that a gas station worker, Emile Blaise, was assassinated by unidentified individuals on the night of September 25, 2024, at an SNPC gas station in Oyo, Congo-Brazzaville.
The incident happened when the Congolese dictator Sassou-Nguesso was a few blocks away at his private residence.
On October 6, 2024, the police, allegedly instructed by the Nguesso clan, identified three young folks in their 20s, executed them, got rid of the bodies, and strictly prohibited their families from mourning them or organizing their funerals.
Sources said the police were looking for three more people. A day later, another man, Alexandre Mouandza, was identified, arrested, taken somewhere, and executed. His family is prohibited from mourning him or organizing his funeral.
Although, death sentence was abolished in Congo-Brazzaville long ago, the police, instructed by the presidential circle, conduct dozens of extrajudicial killings every year.
Those young people did not have a chance to go through trial to try and prove their innocence.
Folks reacted on social media, blaming the government for unjustly killing young people due legal process
Elson Ngoma wrote that “because the robbery took place at SNPC, the police are quick to arrest and execute people, when regular citizens are attacked, no one cares.”
“Another execution of young folks in this country,” wrote Chance Roselin Nidal. “So who is prison made for then?” he questioned.
The Congolese penal code states that every person is presumed innocent until proved guilty. However, the Congolese dictator and his entourage act as judges, juries, and executors.
“When the innocence of citizens is not assured, neither is freedom.”
This quote by Montesquieu (On the Spirit of the Laws, Volume I, Book XII, Chapter II, p. 197) demonstrates the importance of the status of innocent and its very close link with what is most dear to man: his freedom, wrote Idriss SANGWA ILONDA