War Crime Convictions in DR Congo for UN Experts’ Murders

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Zaida Catalán and Michael Sharp.

© Instagram/Zaida Catalán; John Sharp

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s High Military Court in Kinshasa, the capital, has convicted on appeal the Congolese army Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni of the war crime of murder for orchestrating the assassinations of Zaida Catalán and Michael J. Sharp. The United Nations experts were abducted and executed in March 2017 while investigating mass killings in Kasai Central province. 

The verdict announced on June 5 ends a trial chapter that began nine years ago before a military tribunal in Kananga, Kasai Central Province. Human Rights Watch reviewed a recorded video of the judgment. Mambweni’s conviction marks the first time a court has recognized the responsibility of a senior military officer in planning the murders. In 2022, Mambweni had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for “failing to assist persons in danger and disobeying orders.”

In the final appeal ruling, Mambweni and 53 Kamuina Nsapu militia members were sentenced to death for their alleged roles in the murders. Twenty-seven of the accused were at the trial, 22 were convicted in absentia, and 5 had died. 

While Congo has not carried out an execution since 2003, the de facto moratorium was lifted in 2024. Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment under all circumstances, as unique in its cruelty and finality, and calls on Congo to abolish the death penalty.

The families of Catalán, a Swede, and Sharp, an American, told Human Rights Watch they are encouraged by the court’s ruling, while also strongly objecting to the death penalty and arguing that there is still a need to look further up the chain of command.

“Still unresolved is the arrest and prosecution of those up the chain of command,” said John Sharp, Michael’s father. “We believe Colonel Mambweni could not have engineered such a crime on his own authority.” 

Questions also remain regarding what happened to the missing Congolese interpreter and motorcycle drivers who had been with Sharp and Catalán.

To ensure that justice is served, the authorities should continue their investigation so that all those involved are held accountable, no matter their rank, and to reveal what happened to those missing.