Personally I don’t have any expectations that the verdicts will be any milder than the ones who fell earlier in Kisangani. But in this case there have been so many surprising turns, so you never know what happens. We are mentally preparing for the new rounds in the courtroom. We tried to get the main proceedings delayed for a couple of weeks but we didn’t succeed. We hoped for a meeting in London with both the British, Norwegian and Congolese lawyers present to prepare for the court case. There is no time for that now. We haven’t received the ruling from the Supreme Court either. Lawyer Furuholmen can’t go to Congo on such short notice, but lawyer Marius Dietrichson is on his way now. He has been to Kisangani before. Some of the media are on their way as well. Ambassador Vea has been in Kinshasa earlier this week, and had meetings with Congolese authorities. I don’t know who he has talked to. A representative from the Foreign Ministry is going to Kisangani as well. I’m counting on the British sending a representative too.
Kari Hilde French May 6th 2010
