Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday lamented the four-year trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that failed to uncover the complete truth behind the 2017 murders of two UN experts, Zaida Catalán and Michael Sharpe, and their Congolese interpreter and motorbike drivers.

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 the 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.

On January 29, 2022, a military court in the DRC concluded the trial by sentencing 51 individuals to death, 22 of whom were fugitives and were tried in absentia. The accused were sentenced on charges including terrorism, murder and the war crime of mutilation. One of the primary accused, Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni, accused of providing arms and ammunition to the militia, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Two others, including a journalist, were acquitted.

According to HRW, the trial was a sham. Despite investigative assistance from the UN, the court ignored leads suggesting the involvement of senior Congolese officials in the murders. HRW claims that evidence of state involvement gathered by Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Reuters was also ignored. The court also allegedly turned a blind eye to the “Congo Files” resulting from a joint investigation by five international media outlets which alleged that a UN team examining the murders covered up evidence that incriminated senior Congolese authorities.

HRW says that the trial proceedings were delayed unnecessarily and did not follow due process. Several of the defendants were at large, two died in detention and three claimed they were tortured in custody.

In its final report, the Group of Experts on the DRC recommended the establishment of an “independent international investigation” into the murders. HRW has urged the UN, US and Sweden to condemn DRC’s failure to discover the truth. HRW has also entreated UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to “use his authority to open a full-scale international investigation, pursuing leads until all avenues are exhausted.”