Congo: Activist attacked and hospitalized as he opposes homophobic Minister of Justice
Anti-gay justice minister seeks arrests even though homosexuality is legal in the DRC
Congolese LGBTQI+ rights activist Alphonse Mihigo was hospitalized after a mid-November attack that interrupted his campaign against the nation’s homophobic Minister of Justice, who has urged that LGBTQI+ people should be arrested even though the nation has no anti-gay law.
Constant Mutamba, Minister of Justice for the Democratic Republic of Congo, has ordered public prosecutors to prosecute homosexuals demanded prosecutions “against the perpetrators of deviant practices of a sexual and homosexual nature”. As a member of parliament before he was promoted to Minister of Justice, Mutamba unsuccessfully proposed an anti-homosexuality bill that would have imposed prison sentences of up to 15 years for violators.
Mihigo, leader of the LGBTQI+ advocacy group Action Against Social Injustice (ALCIS), has been waging a publicity campaign targeting Mutamba’s anti-LGBTQI+ initiative.
The online publication Notabilite Afrique reported on the Nov. 14 attack in an article published Nov. 27.
This is a translated and abridged version of that article:
DRC: LGBTQI+ human rights activist attacked and beaten in Bukavu, South Kivu province
Alphonse Mihigo is an LGBTQI+ human rights defender engaged in the struggle against human rights violations, inequalities and injustices.
On November 14, he was the victim of a barbaric physical assault by a group of unknown men.
The incident occurred at 9 p.m. in Bukavu [in South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. As he had just finished his radio show, while leaving the studio, Mihigo was apprehended by unidentified men, who beat him and snatched everything he owned, including a computer, 2 phones and a wallet.
The name of the radio is FAN FM, the only radio in the City of Bukavu that has agreed to grant space to LGBTQI+ civil society organizations to raise awareness among the local population about human rights, acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQI+ people.
Starting four days earlier, Mihigo has been leading a Media Campaign, he hosts citizen awareness programs on persecutions related to sexual orientation and gender identity and hate crimes that LGBTQI+ people are victims of on a daily basis following the announcement of the measures and decisions of the Minister of Justice for the prosecution of homosexuals in all Congolese territories.
Shortly before, Mihigo published an article entitled “Urgent cry for help: the DRC has no anti-homosexual law, but the new Minister of Justice still demands repression”. It is important to specify here that the interventions led by Mihigo to the media are part of a legitimate approach initiated by LGBTQI+ civil society organizations, which consists of inviting civil society groups to also make their voices heard against hate crimes and sexist persecutions favored by the Minister of Justice.
Thus, Mihigo is fighting to mobilize commitment signatures from community organizations, civil society actors and human rights defenders to support an open letter to be submitted to the President of the National Assembly in Kinshasa. The letter urges parliamentarians to force the Minister of Justice to officially withdraw his injunctions that he gave to the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation to prosecute and arrest homosexuals.
In his campaign to mobilize signatures of support, Mihigo aims to create a community of shared struggles to put an end to homophobic violence, anti-LGBTQI+ hate crimes and persecutions related to sexual orientation and gender identity so that LGBTQI+ people have access to meaningful justice.
These measures and decisions of the Minister of Justice have already caused a significant number of victims among Congolese LGBTQI+ citizens in South Kivu, with kidnappings, arbitrary arrests and other human rights abuses. At present, two members of the LGBTQI+ community are incarcerated in the central prison of Bukavu. They are accused gratuitously for defending homosexuality.
Currently, Mihigo’s physical and mental health leaves something to be desired. He is admitted to a local medical facility for care and treatment.
Related article by Alphonse Mihigo
44 living with HIV / AIDS at risk in the Congo (Erasing 76 Crimes, April 2018)
