A/HRC/45/50 particularly in building the confidence of women and girl victims in the context of current investigations and inquiries into cases, especially those involving rape and sexual violence. 35. The team of international experts is also concerned about the obstruction of the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of a legislator from the province of Kasai who is suspected of serious human rights violations. It notes that despite the fact that the senior military prosecutor at the military court of the former Kasai Occidental has claimed that efforts have been made to charge the suspect, to date, no judicial action has been taken against him. The team of international experts therefore urges the Kasai Provincial Assembly to cooperate fully with the military justice system so as to enable it to carry out its tasks of investigating and prosecuting allegations of serious crimes against one of the Assembly’s members. 36. The team of international experts commends the efforts undertaken by the senior military prosecutor’s office at the military court of the former Kasai Occidental, with the support of the Chief Military Prosecutor, in the execution of warrants. It takes note of the arrest in July 2020 of certain officers and non-commissioned officers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo suspected in particular in connection with the killings in Nganza and Tshimbulu. 37. The team notes, however, that most of the cases for which these investigations have been carried out have been referred to the Chief Military Prosecutor’s office, owing to the ranks of the officers involved in these cases. The team hopes that the Chief Military Prosecutor’s office will speed up the processing of these cases, which have been stalled for several years. 38. With regard to the trial of the alleged killers of Zaida Catalán and Michael Sharp, the team notes that the trial is continuing, although it is apparently far from over. The trial initially held at the Kananga garrison military court has been transferred to the military court of the former Kasai Occidental after charges were filed against a colonel of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The case involving the disappearance, in the same event, of the victims’ four Congolese colleagues is still at the preliminary investigation stage. In January 2020 the Chief Military Prosecutor at the Military High Court said that it had not yet been formally established that the colleagues had died. 39. The team of international experts is concerned about these proceedings, which are moving along at two different speeds. When the two judicial procedures eventually come together, which is virtually inevitable to ensure the proper administration of justice, the trial already under way for the murder of the two Security Council experts is very likely to be prolonged indefinitely. 40. The team of international experts emphasizes that the fight against impunity in the Kasai region must go beyond the prosecution of those responsible for the murder of Zaida Catalán, Michael Sharp and those who accompanied them. 41. In view of the slow pace in the processing of cases related to the crisis involving the Kamuina Nsapu militia, the team of international experts doubts that, with its current resources, the Congolese justice system is able to work effectively and that the proceedings it has initiated can meet the need for justice arising from this crisis, even in cases chosen for their symbolic significance. This concern is shared by civil society in Kasai, in particular the Société congolaise pour l’État de droit, an NGO represented by the president of the Bar Association of Kasai Central, who in a statement dated 16 July 2020 deplored the judiciary’s lack of will to support the rule of law in the Kasai crisis. He also recommended that the President of the Republic should refer the situation in Kasai to the International Criminal Court or, failing that, should establish a special criminal court for Kasai. 2. Problem of the resources required to facilitate the administration of justice in the Kasai region 42. In its previous report, the team of international experts had noted the link between the fight against impunity and the deployment of resources, indicating that a genuine fight against impunity in the Kasai region required significant human, financial and logistical resources for the military justice system (A/HRC/41/31, para. 75). GE.20-11095 7

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