Nearly a decade later, a Congolese court says a senior army officer helped orchestrate the killing of two UN investigators, but questions still remain.

A military court in DR Congo has handed a death sentence to an army colonel for his role in the murder of two UN experts almost ten years ago, in a case that still raises serious questions about state involvement, cbinews.tv reports.

Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni was found guilty on Friday by the High Military Court in Kinshasa of the war crime of murder. The court said he actively orchestrated the killings of Zaida Catalan, a Swedish Chilean, and Michael Sharp, an American.

This is not the first time Mambweni has faced court over the case. Back in 2022, he got 10 years for failing to assist persons in danger and disobeying orders. Military prosecutors were not happy with that. They appealed, arguing he carried far more responsibility. The High Court agreed and upgraded his sentence to death.

In reality, Congo has not carried out an execution since 2003, so the sentence will likely mean life imprisonment.

Catalan and Sharp were UN experts investigating mass killings in the Kasai region. On 12 March 2017, fighters from the Kamuina Nsapu militia stopped them at a bridge near the village of Moyo Musila. They were marched into the bush and shot. Their bodies were only found 16 days later.

Friday’s ruling also upheld death sentences given in 2022 to dozens of militia fighters. The decision closes nearly nine years of legal proceedings.

At first, prosecutors dismissed any suggestion that state agents were involved. But they later arrested Mambweni and other officials, saying they had been working with the rebels.

Catalan’s sister, Elizabeth Morseby, said she welcomed the court’s finding that there had been a conspiracy. She told reporters this confirms Zaida and Michael were not simply victims of a random act of violence.

Still, she says justice is not complete. She pointed to recordings played in court, said to be of Mambweni, where he allegedly worried that the UN experts could incriminate authorities and expose efforts to hide mass graves.

Human Rights Watch said in January that the 2022 trial ignored video evidence showing government agents helping to direct the experts toward the ambush site.

Morseby argues that true accountability needs more than convictions. It needs a full understanding of how and why these crimes were allowed to happen. She believes Mambweni had no personal motive to kill the experts.

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