Steph Deschamps / April 4, 2022
Four suspected thieves were burned alive by residents Saturday night in Bukavu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), local authorities said Sunday.
In the evening, two well-identified armed bandits broke into two kiosks selling telephone units and money transfers to steal their takings, explained Patience Bengehya, mayor of Bagira, one of the communes in the capital of South Kivu province. After their crime, a group of angry youths chased them, as well as two other people identified as members of a group of bandits considered to be at the root of the insecurity in the district, the mayor told AFP.
Three were quickly caught and their bodies doused with gasoline and burned alive, he added. The fourth was later found and suffered the same fate. According to him, these four alleged bandits were not at their first crime, having already been several times arrested and released. For the president of Bukavu civil society, Jackson Kalimba, these new cases of mob justice are condemnable. This is the moment to ask the justice system to do its job properly, he said.