There’s hardly anyone who has been exposed to a more severe miscarriage of justice than the boys in the Congo-case. It’s very straight forward, everyone gets it. When Rune Edvardsen visited the boys in prison he spoke to a local Congolese who was convicted of premeditated murder. He got 2 and half years in prison! The boys who are accused of a murder they haven’t committed (they are sentenced with absolutely no evidence, just based on a totally corrupt witness) got 5 and 6 death sentences. Does anyone wonder why?
Let it be clear; they have NOT been acquitted of espionage! Several medias reported that, but it’s not true. It was a misunderstanding someone made during the last trial. Norway is sentenced in solidarity with the boys of espionage and huge settlements. Can a miscarriage of justice be clearer? Everyone knows that they weren’t spies, including the Congolese. Foreign Minister Støre has repeated that several times.The negotiations of a transfer was delayed, let’s hope that the Foreign Ministry can get this in order again fast. Norway is of course against the death penalty and delivers this message in all contexts.
Then Norway can’t accept that Norwegians are sentenced to death for something they haven’t done! The boys are imprisoned under very harsh conditions, and are very tired. This can’t go on, everyone needs to understand that.
It’s also financially problematic. The contribution they get from Norway is 100 USD a month, while the real expenses for food and medication is over 2000 USD a month.
Thank you to all the nice people who have supported them with money to the accounts! It has to be a thought that Norway is so willing to give to people in need in other countries, but Norwegians in need have to starve! If these boys didn’t have family and friends to support them they would simply starved to death or die of banal diseases because of lack of money for medication. Is that OK?
I don’t believe for a second that such intelligent people as the ones in the Foreign Ministry and the Justice Department haven’t understood what’s happened in Congo. I think everyone in the Foreign Ministry understands that if the boys die in captivity down there, it’s a scandal and nothing less! We have a large foreign service compared to the size of the country, that’s a good think. Norwegians travel all over the world and someone will experience severe problems. The Congo case will not be the last severe case the Foreign Ministry has to deal with. It’s good that the Foreign Ministry helps Norwegian industry abroad and aid etc. There must be even more important to aid and help Norwegian citizens who are subjected to abuse, racism and extortion like in the Congo-case.
The Foreign Ministry has been present in the Congo-case the whole time, and they’ve had people present during all of the “trials”. No one is more updated than them. They are probably working constantly with this case, but for the boys the result is zero for now. It’s been promised for a long time that they would be transferred to Kinshasa. That hasn’t happened. The boys are sitting in kind of a limbo where no one seems to know anything. The families send money for food and medication, and pay a local Congolese to arrange for this. Without it they will die, there is no doubt about it.
We in the families urge the Foreign Ministry to speed up the process. GET THE BOYS HOME BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!
Knut Moland August 13th 2010
