Floribert Chebeya

In June 2011, four policemen were sentenced to death and another was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted by a military court of planning and carrying out Chebeya's assassination. Three of the former were absent from court during sentencing - these were believed to have carried out the actual assassination. Three other policemen were acquitted of any part in Chebeya's assassination. Many hours were spent in the reading out of the verdict, with hundreds of people turning up to hear it.

Chebeya had been asked to meet with Congo's Inspector General of Police, the national police chief, General John Numbi, on 1 June 2010. It is unknown if this meeting occurred. Chebeya texted his wife to inform her he had arrived at police HQ at Kinshasa for the meeting but that was the last contact he had with the outside world. He was later found dead by passers-by in the backseat of his car in a suburb of Kinshasa, with some clothing removed. Chebeya's driver had disappeared. Female hair and condoms were discovered alongside him in the car. His trousers were unzipped. No blood or bullet holes were found. However, Chebeya had blood in several orifices.

Paul Mwilambwe, who was in charge of security for the premises where Chebeya was killed in June 2010, said he saw the activist's assassination on a surveillance camera. He accused Joseph Kabila of personally ordering the assassination.

Bahizire was born in Bukavu. He worked from the early 1990s until his sudden suspicious death in 2010, of which the cause has yet to be established. He was leader of the Voix des Sans Voix (Voice of the Voiceless) human rights organisation. His work led to him being issued with repetitive threats from police. Throughout his life Chebeya denounced several governments and rulers, including the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, his successor President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and the incumbent government at the time of his death. At the time of his death Chebeya had campaigned against King Albert II of Belgium taking part in the celebrations of DRC's 50th anniversary, had organized a protest about removal of Vital Kamerhee, had finalized a complaint against those responsible for the Bas-Congo Bundu dia Kongo massacre to be filed with the International Penal Court, was criticizing the government delays in setting up the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) and was investigating the death of Aimée Kabila, who claimed to be the president's sister.

Floribert Chebeya Bahizire (13 September 1963 – 2 June 2010) was a leading Congolese human rights activist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hailed by the United Nations as "a champion of human rights". His death led to calls for an investigation from more than 50 organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, many countries and several senior UN officials, including Ban Ki-moon, Navi Pillay, Alan Doss and Philip Alston.