The French lawyer for Vital Kamerhe, chief of staff of President Félix Tshisekedi, convicted of embezzlement, announced on Friday July 31 that the Democratic Republic of the Congo had refused to grant him a visa to come and defend his client on appeal. “ I was received this morning by the charge d'affaires of the DRC embassy in France. He solemnly informed me (...) that my visa was refused, for lack of being able to prove that a bilateral agreement between our two countries would authorize me to plead in Kinshasa ”, wrote Me Pierre-Olivier Sur.
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“ But the law doesn't matter. Here, it is illegal that it is, and the vertiginous fall - by justice - of a great country of Africa ”, he added in this letter addressed to Mr. Kamerhe and transmitted to the press. " So whatever happens now, your trial is no longer a case. And regardless of the judgment that will be handed down, ”noted Me Sur.
$ 50 million embezzled
Former President of the National Assembly, Mr. Kamerhe, 61, had withdrawn in favor of the current head of state Félix Tshisekedi during the electoral campaign at the end of 2018. Chief of staff and main ally of the president, he was arrested on April 8 in Kinshasa and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the embezzlement of approximately $ 50 million.
Mr. Kamerhe has never ceased to proclaim his innocence and his lawyers have denounced " expeditious justice ". His appeal trial, originally scheduled for July 24, has been postponed to August 7.
On July 27, the courts rejected his request for provisional release for the seventh time in a row, while his Congolese lawyers worried about his health in prison. “ Mr. Kamerhe's health is not good. He has chronic complications, and in this period of Covid-19, we have fears ”for his life, Jean-Marie Kabengela told AFP. In the DRC, supporters of Mr. Kamerhe denounce a " political trial ".