The body of human rights leader Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, was found on Wednesday in his car in the suburbs outside of the Congolese capital Kinshasa.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged Congo authorities to investigate his death.
Bahizire was the founder and president of Voix des Sans Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), which focused on politically sensitive issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including military corruption and connections between militias and external political forces, according to a U.N. press release.
The U.N. is concerned with the escalating trend of intimidation of human rights workers, journalists, political opponents, and victims and witnesses in the DRC, of which Bahizire’s death is a sobering example.
“For more than 20 years, Chebeya Bahizire had survived many death threats, arrests, and ill treatment due to his work as a human rights defender,” said Pillay in the release.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged Congo authorities to investigate his death.
Bahizire was the founder and president of Voix des Sans Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), which focused on politically sensitive issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including military corruption and connections between militias and external political forces, according to a U.N. press release.
The U.N. is concerned with the escalating trend of intimidation of human rights workers, journalists, political opponents, and victims and witnesses in the DRC, of which Bahizire’s death is a sobering example.
“For more than 20 years, Chebeya Bahizire had survived many death threats, arrests, and ill treatment due to his work as a human rights defender,” said Pillay in the release.