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Probe into 6 defaced bodies found near Congo River should begin –UN

Published

8 years ago

July 5, 2016

Probe into 6 defaced bodies found near Congo River should begin --UN

The United Nations has called for an immediate investigation into the discovery of six disfigured bodies found at the edge of a river in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital of Kinshasa.

The director of the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in Congo, Jose Maria Aranaz, told Reuters that the bodies of the victims were found along the banks of the Ndjili River in Kinshasa’s Limete commune.

“We are concerned by the finding of six corpses of young men on the river banks and we offer all our support so that a transparent investigation takes place promptly to dispel rumours,” Aranaz said.

According to a 2014 UNJHRO report, police executed at least nine men in a 2013-14 anti-gang operation in Kinshasa, dumping some of the bodies into a river.

New York-based group Human Rights Watch said at least 51 people were killed in the operation with some of the bodies dumped in the larger Congo River.

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