More news on the legal front for these poor guys. I wish them well, but yet again, these guys are at the mercy of the legal system in the Congo. What needs to happen is for the Norwegian government to put the full weight of diplomacy on this one, and demand a fair trial for these guys or have them sent to their home for trial.
If there is doubt, as to who shot the driver and of the legal process in the Congo, then that is a huge red flag. If they cannot do the job, then get them back to Norway and have the trial there. Justice must be served, and if these guys are getting sucked into something political or anything other than justice and the rule of law, then they need to get out of there. That is the right thing to do, and that is the least Norway can do in order to show respect for two men that had at once served them with service in the military. –Matt
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Norwegians Tjostolv Moland (l) and Joshua French (r) attend a military tribunal in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. Photograph: Thomas Hubert/Reuters
Norwegian security contractors launch plea against Congo death sentences
Monday 12 October 2009
Two Norwegian security contractors convicted of murder and espionage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will tomorrow begin an appeal against their death sentences. Joshua French, 27, who spent part of his early childhood in Margate and holds dual British citizenship, was arrested with Tjostolv Moland, 28, in eastern Congo in May after their driver was found shot dead. The men denied shooting Abedi Kasongo in the head, and said he had been killed during an attack by unknown gunmen.
During sentencing last month the chairman of the military tribunal in Kisangani described the defendants as Norwegian spies. Although both men had served in Norway‘s elite Telemark battalion, the Norwegian government said that they had had no contact with the army or any other state organisation since 2007. Norway condemned the death sentence as “unacceptable” and also rejected a court ruling that it was liable for $60m in compensation.
Kari-Hilde French, French’s mother, said today that although she was sure her son and Moland were innocent, she expected the appeal to fail. “I have no hope because the hearing is in the same court in the same town, and everybody there believes they killed the driver,” she said in a telephone interview from Norway. French and Moland had previously worked as private military contractors in other parts of Africa, and claimed to be trying to set up their own security company before their arrest.
During the trial Congolese prosecutors said they had discovered Norwegian military ID cards, fake UN caps, and employee badges for a Norwegian security company called “Special Interventions Group” in the names of French and Moland. The company said the badges were obtained under false pretences.
A representative of the British embassy in Kinshasa is expected to attend the appeal, along with the men’s Norwegian lawyer. French, who had a British father, now dead, spent most of his youth in Norway after leaving the UK as a young boy, but returned for three years from the age of 19.
Story here.