Source: Amnesty International –
In April and September 2022, Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) human rights activists King Mwamisyo Ndungo and Elias Bizimungu, members of the movement Lutte pour le Changement (LUCHA), were arbitrarily arrested. They were later sentenced by a military court in Goma to five years in prison for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Amnesty International proclaimed the two as prisoners of conscience.
On May 29, 2023, Elias Bizimungu was acquitted and released. On January 27, 2025, King Mwamisyo Ndungo fled prison during a mass prison escape that followed the takeover of Goma by the March 23 Movement (M23) fighters. This is Mwamisyo’s story.
In 2021, President Félix Tshisekedi proclaimed a state of siege in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
He appointed army and police officers to replace civilian admins. He said this would help to deal with the several armed groups in the provinces so that civilians would be better protected.
At first, we were happy because to us, it seemed the President was determined to tackle these groups that had for years caused untold suffering to civilians.
The DRC Constitution strictly limits the use of state of siege (also referred to a state of emergency) to an initial 30 days and, if necessary, an extension of 15 days at a time. But in this case, Tshisekedi extended the state of siege for up to six months. And yet, nothing was changing in terms of the security situation.
We did not agree with these extensions because people were still being killed. In Beni, more people were killed during the state of siege by the the various fighters in eastern DRC than when there was no state of siege. The army and the police had become law unto themselves using the state of siege to extort [money] from civilians.