A/HRC/7/25 page 9 two military suspects, who were acquitted. MONUC and several local and international human rights organizations denounced the serious irregularities in the proceedings and the court’s refusal to investigate the events properly, as illustrated in particular by its refusal to order an autopsy on the victim and a ballistic analysis of the murder weapon. After they had been convicted, the two civilians who had made the confessions retracted their statements implicating the two eyewitnesses to the murder. 22. In a letter dated 8 September addressed to MONUC, they accused two members of the Bukavu military prosecutor’s office of having forced them to make false statements. Although MONUC reacted by urging the highest military justice authorities to investigate the allegations thoroughly and fully and to expedite the appeals process, no measures were taken and the four convicted civilians remain in detention in Bukavu prison. E. Frequent obstructions of justice linked to interference by the political and military hierarchy 23. The Congolese judiciary is still subject to corruption and frequent obstructions of justice which are linked to political and military interference. Its independence, and its capacity, are seriously undermined by the failure of the Congolese State to provide it with sufficient financial resources to allow it to function and by a worrying use of the Constitution to reassert the executive’s control over the judiciary. 24. Interference by the political and military authorities with the administration of justice was frequently denounced in most of the above-mentioned trials for serious human rights violations, as well as in other cases, as illustrated in the two examples below. 25. On 28 July 2007, the Kisangani Military Court acquitted the Ituri militia chief, Chief Kahwa, after quashing the verdict handed down by the Bunia garrison military court on 21 August 2006 sentencing him to 20 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes. This decision was not based on any valid legal argument and completely disregarded, for no good reason, the solid case which had been made at first instance, suggesting interference at the highest level to secure Kahwa’s acquittal. The prosecution filed an appeal with the Military High Court, but no ruling has been delivered as yet. Chief Kahwa was also sentenced to life imprisonment for murder by the Bunia regional court on 19 January 2006; here too, the Kisangani court of appeal has yet to pronounce its verdict. The developments in this case therefore remain a serious cause of concern. 26. On 30 September 2007, judge advocates serving at the Kisangani military prosecutor’s office, in Orientale Province, were subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), acting on the orders of the commander of the 9th military region. The judge advocates were arrested at their homes and subjected to grave acts of ill-treatment on several occasions during their detention. Most civil and military judges, first in Kisangani and then throughout the country, reacted by going on strike. In a memorandum dated 2 October 2007 addressed to the President of the Republic, they condemned repeated interference by high-ranking officials in the administration of justice. They also condemned the actions of the commander of the 9th military region and demanded that he be suspended and that legal proceedings be brought against him. MONUC also