A/HRC/33/36 Mukalayi was sentenced to pay US$ 50,000 to the families of the victims for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages and US$ 5,000 to the NGO Voix des Sans Voix. Moreover, the court acquitted four police officers prosecuted in the same case. 55. On 30 October 2015, the military court of Maniema, sitting in Kindu, found senior police superintendent Amuri Mpia Abraham guilty of crimes against humanity, including rape and torture, perpetrated in May 2012 in Dembo (territory of Kibombo, Maniema) by officers of the mobile response unit of the Congolese national police who were under his command. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. The Office provided financial support for the legal representation of the victims during the trial. 56. On 28 March 2016, the garrison military court of Kinshasa/Gombe started the trial of 14 FARDC soldiers repatriated from United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic and charged with rape, inter alia. This procedure is an encouraging step forward by the judicial authorities in combating impunity for human rights violations. However, it raises particular challenges, including with respect to the distance from locations where the violations were committed. The ongoing procedure is taking place in the absence of the alleged victims, who are participating neither as civil parties, nor as witnesses, something which could jeopardize the right to a fair trial and the granting of remedies to victims. The trial has now been suspended to allow for the identification of victims and their potential participation. 57. The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office, the Justice and Corrections Section of MONUSCO, the United Nations Development Programme, the Expert Group and the International Centre for Transitional Justice assisted in the organization of three events attended by the judicial authorities, during which 17 priority cases of prosecution by military courts were identified in the provinces of Ituri, Tshopo, North Kivu and South Kivu. 58. On the legislative front, the most significant development has been the promulgation on 2 January 2016 by the President of the Republic of legislation on the implementation of the Rome Statute, which Parliament had been expected to adopt in 2008. The text supplements the existing legislative framework by incorporating definitions of international crimes into the Criminal Code, removing incorrect definitions of these crimes in the Military Criminal Code, abolishing immunity for such crimes for officials and other personalities, including the President of the Republic and members of Parliament and providing that there can be no amnesty for international crimes. 59. Several challenges remain in the fight against impunity and for the administration of justice, however. The rate of prosecution of senior officers remains low due to an inadequate legal framework and certain institutional barriers, including the military operational courts. Problems also persist with regard to the independence of the judiciary and the prison system. These challenges were identified and discussed at a forum on the justice system in 2015, but the resulting recommendations have yet to be applied. 60. The right to appeal the decisions of military courts in accordance with the Judicial Code does not apply to the military operational courts,19 whose decisions are those of both upper and lower courts, in flagrant disregard for the right to a fair trial and fundamental safeguards such as the right of appeal, even though these are recognized in the Constitution. 61. The independence of the judiciary remains a major concern. By way of illustration, with certain exceptions, military judges cannot prosecute or adjudicate cases against military officers who outrank them, which reduces the chances that high-ranking military 19 GE.16-13984 Arts. 87 and 276 of the Judicial Code (Act No. 023/2002 of 18 November 2002). Article 87 provides that “the rulings handed down by the military operational courts are not subject to any remedy”. 13