DRC must protect democracy and human rights, defenders. - Internet Sans Frontières

June 11, 2018, Paris: Internet Without Borders has learned, with deep sadness, the death of Luc Nkulula, a pro-democracy activist, member of the youth movement LUCHA, which campaigns for democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Internet Without Borders asks the Congolese authorities to shed light on the circumstances of this death as soon as possible and calls for impartial justice for the victim and his family.

The death of Luc Nukulula comes in an extremely tense context for defenders of democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo: LUCHA is among the main organizations that opposed a modification of the Constitution, and mobilizes against the third mandate of Joseph Kabila, who remains unconstitutionally at the head of this African country of the Great Lakes region. Human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists are regular targets of attacks, arbitrary arrests, and assassinations, including that, so far unsolved, of Floribert Chebeya, founder of the NGO La Voix Des Sans Voix.

“The brutal and tragic disappearance of our comrade Luc Nkulula is a great loss. We urgently need to mobilize for a better protection of those who defend human rights and democracy in the DRC” said Abdelkerim Yacoub Koundougoumi, Head of Central Africa division at Internet Without Borders.

Internet Without Borders calls on the Congolese authorities to strengthen the protection of human rights and those who defend them. Internet Without Borders demands that freedom of opinion and assembly be respected, as well as freedom of expression. The latter is regularly trampled by the voluntary Internet shutdowns that the Government imposes on citizens.

For more information:

Contact Abdelkerim Yacoub Koundougoumi

+33 06 47 92 52 73

abdel@internetsansfrontieres.org