DRC: EU lifts sanctions against Kalev Mutondo and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary

6/20/2023, 9:32:47 PM

Highlights: The European Union has lifted sanctions against two Congolese officials. The two were accused of obstructing the election process in the DRC. The EU said there was not enough evidence to impose the sanctions. The sanctions were lifted for 15 other people, including former President Joseph Kabila. They will be reinstated if they are found to have violated the rules of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Union said on Monday. The European Commission said the sanctions were imposed for the first time in the history of the EU, and not for other reasons.

The Foreign Ministers of the European Union decided to lift the sanctions that had been imposed on two personalities from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kalev Mutondo...

DRC: EU lifts sanctions against Kalev Mutondo and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary

European Union Foreign Ministers decided to lift sanctions imposed on two prominent figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kalev Mutondo and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, both close to former President Joseph Kabila. They were subject to classic sanctions: being unable to enter the EU, freezing their assets in Europe and prohibiting EU citizens from providing them with funds. It was their actions in 2018 that earned them these sanctions.

Kalev Mutond, the former general administrator of the ANR in Goma, was targeted by European sanctions. (illustration image) © VOA CC0 Charly Kaseraka

Text by: RFI Follow

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With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet

At the time of the 2018 general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary was Minister of the Interior and Kalev Mutondo headed the National Intelligence Agency. They were under EU sanctions for human rights violations and obstruction of the electoral process.

Among the charges for which they were punished were "arbitrary arrest and detention of members of the opposition" and "disproportionate use of force".

They had both decided to challenge these sanctions. The Court of Justice of the EU ruled in March that the evidence presented to sanction them did not constitute "a set of sufficiently concrete, precise and consistent evidence" to establish the reality of the facts.

The ministers therefore had no choice but to lift the sanctions, but they maintain them for fifteen others, such as former Kinshasa police chief Célestin Kanyama or former interior minister Evariste Boshab.

This is a setback for EU diplomacy, but ministers say they are ready to re-issue sanctions against anyone who obstructs the organisation of elections in the DRC.

>> Read also: In the News: in the DRC, are international sanctions really effective?