The head of one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's largest human rights group was found dead yesterday, a day after he went missing, his organisation said.
The body of Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, executive director of Voix des Sans Voix, or Voice of the Voiceless, was found in his car outside Kinshasa, the capital, Dolly Ibefo, deputy director of the group, said by phone from the city today.
Mr Chebeya had been missing since the evening of June 1st after meeting with the national police, according to a statement from Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group.
"We are stunned and appalled by the suspicious death of such a prominent and respected human rights defender," Veronique Aubert, deputy director of Amnesty International's Africa Program, said in the e-mailed statement.
Amnesty said there had been increased oppression of human rights defenders in the Congo over the past year, including by "illegal arrest, prosecution, phone threats and repeated summoning to the offices of the intelligence services".
Bloomberg