Congo DR | thirty new death sentences were imposed as a result of riots against the police

Thirty people were sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a one-day trial for their role in police violence in the capital following the end of Ramadan.

A policeman was killed Thursday in Kinshasan as Muslim groups were fighting rivals at a major sports center in support of the right to mark the end of Ramadan.

Chief lawyer Tshipamba said 30 people were sentenced to death in the trial that began on Friday, the day after the violence took place. A recording of the proceedings upheld the verdict.

The DRC has not imposed a death penalty since the moratorium was imposed in 2003. Since then, death sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment.

Dozens injured

The regional government said that in addition to the dead police, several people were injured and a police vehicle was burnt during clashes outside the Martyrs Stadium.

Kinshasa police chief Sylvano Kasongo said about 40 people had been injured and 35 arrested.

The two rival parties have spent years discussing the leadership of the DRC’s Comico Muslim Federation. The two sides are opposite and occasionally have blows.

10% of the DRC population is Muslim, most of them concentrated in the east of the country.

But Congolese Kinshasa, in the western part of the vast Central African country, traditionally holds massive end-of-month celebrations of the fast of Ramadan in public squares and main roads.