It was supposed to be the day of the prosecutor’s indictment and of the defensive arguments before the court’s sentence Kinshasain the Democratic Republic of Congoagainst the you are accusedone of which is still a fugitive, for the murder of the ambassador Luke Attanasioof the policeman Victor Iacovacci and the World Food Program driver, Mustapha Milambo. And yet it will be everything postponed to March 8 why, as he learns Ilfattoquotidiano.it, defense attorneys did not appear at the hearing. The reason? According to sources quoted by local newspapers, they have decided to boycott the hearing to protest against the missed payments by their clients.
The session opened on Wednesday morning more than two hours late precisely because the judges waited a long time for the arrival of the defense lawyers. At one point, the presiding judge called the five men on trial to the stand asking them in turn why their lawyer was not present. The answer was the same for everyone: “I don’t know”. At that point, we read in the local newspapers, the president asked the defendants if they paid their lawyers. And for everyone the answer was negative, given that we are talking about people who declare themselves poor and destitute and who, however, do not have the skills to defend themselves. Whether it is truth or defensive strategy, it is not known. The fact is that the prosecutor shared their position and asked for the hearing to be postponed to March 8 “to allow the defendants to contact their lawyers so that it can be resolved” once and for all.