Court releases former DRC PM from house arrest

Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday reversed its decision to place former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo under house arrest, his lawyer said.

The former Prime Minister “is no longer under house arrest… He returned to his home without being accompanied by police,” Lawyer Laurent Onyemba said.

The court’s ruling came just the day after it had imposed the house arrest on Matata pending an investigation into embezzlement charges.

In May, prosecutors asked parliament to lift the immunity granted to Matata in his new role as a senator so that he could face a probe over alleged corruption.

The Senate, however, voted against lifting immunity, saying that the Constitutional Court which made the request was not empowered to try a parliamentarian.

But on July 5, six members of the Senate office agreed to a demand by the prosecutor of the Constitutional Court to remove Matata’s parliamentary immunity.

Matata was Minister of Finance and then Prime Minister in the government of Joseph Kabila from 2010 until 2016.

Olajumoke Adeleke/CGTN