Congolese justice minister orders prosecutor general to arrest LGBTQ allies
Congolese Justice Minister Constant Mutamba has instructed his country’s prosecutor general to arrest LGBTQ allies. The newly appointed justice minister in a June 15 communique said the prosecutor general should initiate legal proceedings against people who advocate for the LGBTQ community in Congo.
Although same-sex marriages are constitutionally prohibited, there is currently no law that criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations.
The communique has raised a lot of eyebrows from social and LGBTQ activists who are asking on what grounds Mutamba issued the communique. “He could have started by initiating a bill in this direction, but in the current Congolese legislation he is missing the point,” said Jean Claude Katende, a Congolese human rights activist who is the president of the African Association of Human Rights. “If he wants to repress homosexuals, he must initiate a law which must make this behavior an offense and have it punished.
He will be arrested for complicity in arbitrary arrests. The constitution is clear, no one can be prosecuted for an act which does not constitute an offense.” Khelver Hermano, a Congolese social commentator, said the law should not be interpreted based on one person’s emotions. “LGBT marriage is already not applied in the DRC but the minister wants to incarcerate those who do it informally without a legal basis,” said Hermano. “The law is not interpreted according to our will.” “Does the penal code in the DRC recognize polygamy?
