Lawyer Furuholmen cooperate with an organisation called The Death Penalty Project. They are located in England. The cooperation is based on preparing juridical input to the Supreme Court in Kinshasa. Lehrfreund works Pro Bono for the guys. They have been lucky with other cases involving the death penalty in different countries in Africa.
You can read more about the work they do on: www.deathpenaltyproject.org
A special envoy from the Foreign Ministry arrives in Kinshasa this evening.
There has been work in progress with transferring Tjostolv and Joshua to Kinshasa for a while. It seems that there is some movement in this case now. Colonel Wawara who has been “out in the cold” for a while has now become the highest leader for the military police in Kisangani and area. (I don’t know if it means the whole province). In other words: he is even more powerful than before. It looks like the thought of them being transferred to the capitol is gradually accepted. This is not without risk, because many are going to be concerned that they will not get the money they have claimed and been awarded in court. Lawyer Furuholmen has asked the Foreign Ministry to follow up alternatives regarding the moving of the boys to the capitol, as it can take some time to release funds to move from the relevant department.
Even after several requests it has not been possible for the Foreign Ministry or us to receive a copy of the sentence in the appeal. This is now a long time ago, and one would think that it was possible to see what the boys have been convicted of, and the basis of the sentence.
Kari Hilde French, January 17th 2010
