Aurore Bonny
09 February 2022•Update: 09 February 2022
DOUALA, Cameroon
Josue Mufula was released after spending one night in police custody following his arrest in Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on charges of provoking the army, according to parliamentary sources.
The MP for the Common Front for Congo (FCC), the party of former President Joseph Kabila, thanked supporters as he emerged from detention by the military court in Goma.
"Conspiracy hatched by Goma mayor Francois Kabeya," he wrote Wednesday on Twitter where he confirmed his release.
His colleague and lawyer, Juvenal Munubo, a Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) deputy, who was assisting Mufula, reported that he is being prosecuted for "provocation and incitement to undermine public authority and contempt for the army."
Munubo said Mufula's driver "drove his car past curfew and called the police officers dogs,” according to the prosecution's case file.
He also reportedly said: "Bye Bye state of siege and service registration fees.”
Munubo pointed out the constitutional objections raised by the defense during his detention.
In particular, the fact that he is not being tried by the Court of Cassation, the authority constitutionally designated to judge national deputies.
On Friday, a decision will be handed down on the exception, according to media reports.
A second exception states that "the privileges of jurisdiction remain, even in a state of siege."
There is "a risk of violating the Constitution," according to Munubo.
Mufula repeatedly criticized the prolonged state of siege in the east of the country, which has been plagued by attacks by armed gangs.
He deplored "a military regime" and growing insecurity targeting young people found dead despite a security measure.
"The state of siege is a military terror," acknowledging that his last interventions and criticisms, which he considers positive, "have been so embarrassing," he said Tuesday, as quoted by the Journal of Nations, a media organization.
On Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged authorities to "strengthen as soon as possible the protection of civilians, in particular by ensuring the safety of displaced persons" fearing reprisals after the recent massacre of 60 people in the east.
About 5.6 million people out of a population of nearly 90 million in the country have been forced to flee their homes -- 400,000 more than at the beginning of 2021, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
