Freed DRC accused tells of trial, jail hell

Published Feb 26, 2015

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 Pretoria - Two years of prison hell, complete with beatings, harassment and carrying the label of terrorist may have come to an end when the last five of 20 Congolese citizens were released last week, but the men will carry the emotional scars of their experience for a long time to come.

The men were acquitted in the Pretoria High Court over the lack of evidence against them last week.

Judge Billy Mothle came down hard on the prosecution for putting together a shoddy case lacking in concrete evidence.

During the trial, he said their arrest in February 2013 could have been from a movie scene.

One of the men released on Friday, James Kazongo said: “One minute we were travelling to a training area, and the next being handcuffed, our heads covered and boots, guns and fists raining on our heads and bodies.”

Kazongo, a US citizen, was the first accused in the case. He and 19 others were arrested on a farm in Limpopo after a sting operation by police. In their case, the State presented e-mails and telephone records, and witnesses in an attempt to prove the men were planning a coup against the DRC.

They were accused of planning to kill President Joseph Kabila, senior government officials and other prominent members of DRC society. They had allegedly requested sponsorship for their cause, and wanted arms, money and training.

In their agreement with undercover police, the initial amount of $125 000 (R1.4 million) was increased to $400 000, and on February 4 the group of 19 was transported to the farm in Limpopo, allegedly for training purposes.

They were woken up at 4am on the day of their arrest and transported to the training site.

“It all happened so fast, we were waiting for one of the cops when we heard a loud explosion and then shots were fired at us.”

Within minutes they were all on the ground, cuffed with heads covered and being severely beaten.

“There was no chance to ask what was happening; the only thing we knew was we were going to die,” he said.

The men were bundled into trucks and taken to Pretoria, kept in cells for a few days and refused medical treatment for all injuries sustained during the assault.

When they were eventually taken before a magistrate they learnt of their alleged crime: “I was shocked. I could not believe I had fallen into a trap of this magnitude,” he said.

Every time they appeared in court, it was under heavy police guard and a special escort transported them to and from prison.

Kazongo explained that he had come from the US to Swaziland, to where he and a friend had been invited to an event. He had previously been requested to negotiate a business deal, involving $400 000, by a friend, and on his way back stopped by to help out.

“My payment would have been $100 000 so I agreed,” Kazongo said. On his second meeting regarding the deal, he was transported to Limpopo with 18 others, and told that while 15 of them were going for rhino protection training, he and the other three would meet the financier there.

“We were kidnapped and made part of a massive plot orchestrated by a small pocket of people working for Kabila.”

Incarceration was extremely painful and frustrating, the first 18 months were spent in solitary cells, with little more than a piece of stale bread per day.

Reports in the media and the involvement of human rights organisations saw some improvement in their situation during the last few months of jail.

“We have the judge and the judicial system to thank for the acquittal last week. It showed fairness and respect for the Constitution,” he said.

Their lawyer, Thesigan Pillay, had also played a big role in their acquittal. “He stood firm and battled hard when the prosecution piled on evidence upon evidence in the case,” Congolese community representative Esaie Prince said yesterday.

And while the Congolese men said justice had persevered and they had been released from an undeserving prison, they believed that retribution on those who had wrongly incarcerated them was still needed.

Prince said: “We have given the lawyer full rights to take action against our jailers and the system that put us in prison.

“We have been vindicated, and the world now knows that our insistence that Congolese people are non-violent people is true.”

Most of the men had gone back to homes that no longer existed in the way they had left them, he said. The effect of hardships endured by their wives while they, as breadwinners, were in jail, had no end in sight.

“They have to start rebuilding the lives they spent many years building in South Africa. They have to start from getting documentation to becoming legal in the country, to making a living to support their families, to regaining the trust of those they lived with.”

Pillay spoke about plans to file a civil case against the State, which he said had victimised innocent immigrants who were in the country to seek asylum from their trouble-torn country.

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@ntsandvose

Pretoria News

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