The Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Célestin Tunda Ya Katende, was released on Saturday evening, a few hours after being arrested at his home and then detained in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, noted an AFP journalist.
No source could yet specify his judicial status. The Minister was arrested and taken to the General Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Cassation after a procedural incident the day before with the President of the Republic Félix Tshisekedi in the Council of Ministers.
A lawyer, Mr. Tunda Ya Kasende is a member of the political family of Joseph Kabila, a majority in Parliament and who forms a government coalition with the party of President Tschisekedi.
Friday, during the Council of Ministers, the Head of State severely criticized his Minister of Justice for having transmitted to the National Assembly the opinion of the government on three very controversial legislative proposals.
A “personal initiative“, notes the report of the Council of Ministers.
These bills on the status of magistrates, defended by two deputies of the Front commun pour le Congo (FCC), political platform of ex-president Kabila, provoked violent demonstrations around the Parliament, the from supporters of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), party of President Tshisekedi.
The Prime Minister and a majority of the 66 government ministers are from the FCC.
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