A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sentenced 51 individuals to death Saturday in relation to the 2017 murder of two UN experts.

Zaida Catalán, a Swedish-Chilean citizen, and Michael Sharpe, an American citizen, were members of the Group of Experts on the DRC. They had been appointed to investigate the violence in DRC’s Kasai region. The violence in the region had been ongoing since 2016 when local traditional chief, Kamuina Nsapu was killed by security forces. After the pair of experts went missing on March 12, 2017, their bodies were discovered by UN peacekeepers in a shallow grave.

A Security Council report stated that “a group of Congolese, likely militia members from Kasai Central Province, was responsible for the deaths of Mr. Sharp and Ms. Catalán and was likely also responsible for the deaths of the Congolese translator and the three motorcycle drivers.”

The Group of Experts on the DRC in their final report to the UN Security Council hinted at involvement of state officials in the assassination. The report stated that the experts “were assassinated in a premeditated setup under hitherto unclear circumstances.”

The Kananga Military Court sentenced 51 out of 54 accused to death. Of the accused, 22 are fugitives and were tried in absentia. Prosecutors alleged that one of the primary accused, Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni, provided arms and ammunition to the militia but he denied the charges. Mambweni was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Two other accused, including a journalist, were acquitted. 

Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde, said in a tweet that Sweden “strongly opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances without exception.” She urged for the continuation of investigations “to uncover the truth and bring justice.”

The verdict is likely to be appealed before the DRC’s High Military Court in Kinshasa. DRC has long observed a moratorium on death penalties. In 2020, DRC voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling on states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. All those sentenced to death are to serve life sentences during the operation of the moratorium.