Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland were sentenced to death on 8th September 2009, by a Congolese military tribunal. Tjostolv received 5 death sentences, Joshua received 4.
They were found guilty on the basis of statements and two witnesses who were not obliged to swear an oath of veracity, who had their status changed to 'informers' by the court, because they were also demanding restitution from the two Norwegians who'd been sentenced to death. The Norwegians had no translator at all during large parts of the trial, and a very bad one the times they got one. They understood very little of what was said in court. Due to the poor translation available, prejudicial stance of the court and the use of inadmissible evidence, Joshua and Tjostolv chose to exercise their right to remain silent during the trial, which they themselves termed 'a mockery of a trial.'
The two Norwegians were sentenced to death for:
- Espionage for the Norwegian state
- Murder (Tjostolv only)
- Attempted murder
- Establishment of a criminal fraternity
- Armed robbery
In addition, Tjostolv was given 20 years imprisonment for "Illegal possession of a weapon"
The court case took more than four weeks, and was a farce. The evidence presented were, amongst others, maps, kompasses, hiking equipment, Norwegian military ID cards, ID cards from SIG, pictures of two women, a picture of a Norwegian press photographer who is pointing at a map of Africa, and various other pictures. Also, a picture showing Tjostolv washing blood out of the vehicle was said to be evidence of murder. The body of the dead driver, Abedi Kasongo, was never subjected to an autopsy. The weapon that was allegedly the murder weapon has been found in Norway.
Tjostolv and Joshua have always asserted that they were attacked by robbers / militia on the evening the driver Abedi Kasongo was killed, and that they got away. They were later arrested. An appeal is supposed to take place 13th October 2009. We, the families of the two boys, have little confidence that this subsequent court case will be any fairer than the first. Amongst other things, this is due to the fact that it is not permitted to introduce new evidence at this stage, which might prove their innocence and lead to acquittal.
