KINSHASA (Reuters) – The high court judge overseeing a landmark corruption trial of the president’s chief of staff in Democratic Republic of Congo died a violent death from blows to the head, the justice minister said on Tuesday.
Raphael Yanyi, who was presiding over the trial of Vital Kamerhe, once a close strategic ally of President Felix Tshisekedi, died on May 26 from what police at first reported was a heart attack.
An autopsy has since shown, “he died a violent death, due to the blows of sharp points or knife-like objects, which were thrust into his head,” Justice Minister Celestin Tunda Ya Kasende said.
(Reporting by Stanis Bujakera; writing by Hereward Holland; editing by Chris Reese)
