A/HRC/7/25 page 6 to 24 January 2008 in Goma, North Kivu. A series of recommendations are made at the end of the report with a view to improving the human rights situation in the country. These recommendations are based on the information transmitted regularly to the independent expert by the United Nations Human Rights Integrated Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, consisting of the OHCHR office in the country, MONUC and representatives of public institutions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, NGOs, political parties and associations. I. IMPUNITY AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE 5. Despite the undertaking by President Joseph Kabila and the Congolese Government to prioritize efforts to combat impunity following the elections, little progress has been made to date with regard to the administration of justice and the fight against impunity, and thus it seems that a climate of virtually generalized impunity persists throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The manner in which several of the important investigations and trials mentioned below have (or have not) evolved over this period is particularly worrying. 6. The appointment or promotion of individuals who are suspected of serious human rights violations to senior ranks and positions in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) remains problematic because no vetting mechanism has been put in place by the Congolese authorities whereby officers suspected of involvement in such acts can be suspended with immediate effect, pending an in-depth investigation. A. Tentative progress in the fight against impunity 7. The fact that the convictions handed down in the trials for the Bavi massacre and the murder of two MONUC military observers were upheld constitutes the main progress in the fight against impunity during the reporting period. 8. On 28 July 2007, the Kisangani Military Court of Appeal, in a circuit hearing held in Bunia, Ituri, returned its verdict on the Bavi case. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict handed down by the court of first instance against the main defendant, a captain of the FARDC, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes, rape and pillage. Another captain was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and the seven other defendants were sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for murder. On 19 February 2007, the Bunia garrison military court had sentenced nine defendants, all members of the 1st integrated brigade, to life imprisonment for participating in the arbitrary execution of at least 32 civilians in Bavi (32 kilometres south of Bunia) between August and November 2006. The military court also awarded a large amount in damages to the families of the victims. 9. In the case of the murder of two MONUC soldiers, the appeal lodged by three of the five defendants was time-barred, the court rejected it and upheld the sentence of life imprisonment handed down at first instance. Furthermore, on 12 November 2007, the Bunia garrison military court upheld the life sentence handed down in absentia on 19 February 2007 to Ufoyuru, alias Kwisha, a former militiaman of the Front des nationalistes et intégrationnistes (Nationalist and Integrationist Front) (FNI), for participating in the murder of two MONUC military observers in Mongbwalu in May 2003. Kwisha escaped from Bunia prison on 13 January 2007 and, after his capture on 6 October 2007, his lawyer obtained a retrial.