A/HRC/4/7 page 10 47. It should also be noted that several senior military officers, including Peter Karim, leader of the Front nationaliste et intégrationniste (FNI), and Mathieu Ngudjolo, leader of the Mouvement révolutionnaire congolais (MRC), two militias active in Ituri (eastern region), were promoted to the rank of colonels of the FARDC by presidential decrees of 2 October 2006. 48. The trial of the presumed assassins of journalist Franck Ngyke and his wife Hélène Mpaka is now under way in the Kinshasa/Matete garrison court. The Public Prosecutor has not ruled out political motives nor the possibility of summoning politicians linked to the Parti du peuple pour la reconstruction de la démocratie (PPRD) who are allegedly involved in this dual murder. 49. On 11 September 2006, Sergeant Kipande Kasokota of the FARDC forces was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by the Kalemie garrison court for rape, assault and attempted murder of a minor. The convicted offender will be dismissed from the FARDC forces. 50. On 6 November 2006, a lieutenant of the FARDC’s naval forces was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Kalemie garrison court for a rape that took place during the night of 17-18 October. The convicted offender was also dismissed from the army. 51. On 16 November, the Kalemie garrison court sentenced a PNC officer to 15 years in prison for rape. The victim, a heavily pregnant woman, was detained in a PNC cell in Tumbwe, near Kalemie. The convicted officer was also sentenced to pay 115,000 Congolese francs in legal expenses and the equivalent of US$ 2,000 as damages to the victim’s family. 52. On 20 November, the Ituri garrison court, in a circuit court hearing in Watshia, sentenced soldiers and civilians to sentences ranging from 2 to 20 years in prison for misappropriating ammunition and other property belonging to the FARDC. 53. On 8 December 2006, the Kikwit garrison court (Bandundu region), sentenced six police prison guards charged with having freed prisoners. They had released 34 prisoners - 17 civilians and 17 soldiers - because, according to their personal interpretation, the phrase pronounced by the Head of State in his investiture address of 6 December - “the prison doors are open to all those who transgress the law” - amounted to a presidential amnesty. According to the OHCHR report dated 16 December, the released prisoners were recaptured. 54. On 11 December, the Mweka national police commander and five of his junior officers appeared before the Luebo regional court (western Kasaï region) on charges of the arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, fraud, assault and wounding with intent of national electoral observer Robert Ngolo. The incidents dated back to 30 July 2006, during the first round of the presidential and legislative elections. 55. The Lubumbashi military court (Katanga province) on 12 December held its first public hearing of the Kilwa massacre trial; the hearing was devoted to identifying the 12 accused - all soldiers - involved in summary executions, rapes, torture, looting and other human rights violations in Kilwa in October 2004. The crimes were said to have been committed during a military operation carried out to quell a small-scale rebellion in Kilwa. Among the accused was Colonel Ademar Llunga, former commander of the 62nd FARDC brigade, who had led the