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A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sentenced six individuals, including two army colonels, to death in connection with the March murder of two Chinese mining employees.
The Ituri Military Court on Friday imposed a 10-year prison term on four further military personnel.
All but one of those who received the death penalty were military personnel.
The two colonels are accused of organizing a convoy attack in March with the objective of snatching four gold bars and $6,000 in cash that the victims were transporting as they left a gold mine.
Death sentences are often executed in the DRC but are routinely mitigated to life in prison.
According to Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, spokesman for military operations in the gold-rich Ituri region, “this must serve as an example for the black sheep in the armed forces.”
In the resource-rich eastern DRC, which has been devastated by militia conflict for decades, attacks against Chinese-managed mines and Chinese employees are not unusual.
In an effort to reduce bloodshed, the DRC government-appointed security personnel to oversee the administration of Ituri and the neighboring North Kivu province last year. The precaution, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to deter attacks.
The defense group declared they will file an appeal.
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