Kinshasa – A former key security adviser of Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi went on trial on Friday, accused of plotting against the head of state.
Known as Tshisekedi’s “Mr Security”, Francois Beya has been at the centre of the vast, conflict-scarred country’s state security apparatus for almost 40 years.
Now, with six co-accused including military and police officers, Beya is being prosecuted for allegedly having, from 2020 to February 2022, “formed a plot against the life or person of the Head of State”, according to the military court.
The trial is being heard in a large tent set up in the Makala prison, in the capital Kinshasa, with some 30 of the defendants’ relatives in attendance, noted an AFP journalist who was quickly escorted out of the compound.
“Journalists are not allowed to attend the hearing, except those from the (press of the) High Military Court. This is an order from the hierarchy,” explained a prison security official.
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Beya, who has served dictatorial and democratically elected leaders during four successive regimes, has the nickname “Fantomas” due to his ability to pass unnoticed like a ghost despite his major responsibilities.
A retired ANR intelligence officer told AFP that Beya was “a true grandee of the civil service, unassuming, efficient, rational and professional”.
Beya was recruited by a forerunner of the ANR in the 1980s while longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko ruled the Central African country, receiving training in Europe, the United States and Israel.
The others on trial with Beya are Brigadier Tonton Twadi Sekele, who is on the run, Colonel Tite Cikapa, senior police Superintendent Lily Tambwe Mauwa, Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Kalenga Kalenga and two civilians.
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Beya was arrested by ANR officers on February 5 and held at a secret location before being transferred to Makala prison two months later.
Days after his arrest, the Congolese presidency stated that investigators had uncovered “serious evidence of acts against national security”.
A collective supporting Beya said on Wednesday that he is “paying for his investigation into a mining dispute” involving a private adviser to the president and a former electoral commission head.
After Tshisekedi won 2018’s presidential election, he named Beya his special security adviser and head of the Congolese National Security Council, covering all national intelligence services.
The uncertainty at the top of the security apparatus comes as DRC remains riven by conflict, with a kaleidoscopic array of armed groups operating in the east of the country.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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