North Kivu Bar accuses Butembo police commander of violence against lawyer

The North Kivu Bar accuses the national police’s urban commander in Butembo of taking part in violence against lawyer Wakilongo Kyatangwalwa Papy and ordering his arrest and detention. Bar president César Fazili says the lawyer was attacked on October 17 on Matokeo Avenue after protesting that a police vehicle had struck a parked motorcycle. The lawyer was allegedly injured in the face, eye and lip, handcuffed and detained without legal grounds or a written record; a complaint filed on October 20 with the North Kivu senior military prosecutor also alleges torture and an assault on the modesty of a woman in the lawyer’s family. The Bar has asked the provincial police commissioner to open disciplinary proceedings against the officers involved.