Democratic Republic of Congo: Treated Like Criminals: DRC’s Race to Silence Dissent

As the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s presidential election draws closer, calls by politicians from the Presidential Majority and the opposition, religious leaders and activists for President Joseph Kabila to step down in November 2016 when his constitutionally mandated two-terms end have increased. Simultaneously the government’s crackdown on those voicing these views has intensified. This report documents the DRC government’s crackdown on politicians and activists speaking out or peacefully mobilizing against these developments. It exposes a pattern of arbitrary arrests, prolonged incommunicado detentions by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) and trials based on trumped-up or illegitimate charges violating the rights to liberty, freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

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