Court blaze delays vote fraud trial

A hearing on vote fraud charges will be delayed and continue in a new location in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa after part of the country’s supreme court caught fire yesterday amid gunfire and street fighting among supporters of the runner-up, officials said today.

The fire that destroyed sections of the court was put out last night and Congolese army forces were stationed around the building Wednesday. Papers were still smouldering in the back of a courtroom this morning.

Azarias Ruberwa, one of four vice presidents in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s transitional government, said the deadline for a ruling on the fraud accusations will be extended and the trial will move to a different building.

He did not say when the trial would restart or set a new deadline.

According to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral laws, the court can take a maximum of seven days to examine charges of cheating brought by Jean-Pierre Bemba, the second-place finisher in a landmark vote meant to start the Democratic Republic of Congo toward peace and democracy after decades of ethnic fighting and totalitarian rule.

The official vote tally gave interim President Joseph Kabila 58 percent of the vote, compared with nearly 42 percent for Bemba.

The formal installation of Joseph Kabila as president could be delayed if the court does not rule on the challenge before Dec. 10, when he is scheduled to be sworn in, Attorney General Tshimanga Mukenda said. Under the constitution, his powers as interim president will not expire until he is sworn in for his elected term.

“The supreme court has to give definitive results first,” Mukenda said.

The trial had just started yesterday when fighting erupted among about 200 Bemba supporters rallying outside.

Gunshots were heard and cars were set on fire before UN forces secured the area. No injuries were reported.

The two-storey court building caught fire in the melee and about a third of the structure appeared to have burned.

The government has claimed that the violence was started by soldiers dressed in civilian clothes who were mixed in with the crowd and fired shots.

Bemba’s camp had steadfastly denied any role in the fighting, adding that they would have no reason to disrupt the trial.

Ruberwa, who visited the destroyed building today, told reporters that some electoral materials had been destroyed in the flames, but none from the October 29 second-round presidential vote being contested by Bemba.