Nearly 3 and a half hours allowed the High Court, with the lawyers for the parties to the trial, the defendant and his wife to take stock of what is hidden in this safe. If the defendant’s lawyer, after the opening of the safe indicates that only $20,000, passport and compound certificates were found there, certain sources speak of the effects and documents kept top secret which would have been discovered in it.
During the previous hearing, Édouard Mwangachuchu had stated that it was no longer possible at his level to open this safe because it was damaged by the elements of the security forces who carried out the search at his residence. During this same hearing, this national elected official acknowledged the ownership of the ammunition found in his house and argued that it related to a firearm he owned and which he would have received authorization to carry from the Minister of the Interior to protect himself against the M23 rebels. It should be noted that before the field visit to the BCC for the opening of the safe, the public prosecutor had exposed before the judges the other objects seized in the residence of Edouard Mwangachuchu in North Kivu, in particular weapons and ammunition. The High Military Court postponed the case to next Tuesday, April 11 to continue with its examination.
Edouard Mwangachuchu is suspected to participate in an insurrectionary movement, to maintain links with the M23 rebels, to incitate soldiers to commit acts contrary to duty and discipline, to possess illegally munitions of war.
Moussa Didy Bunakima
