The DRC is the subject of complaints to the International Criminal Court and in Belgium

Lawyers representing victims of kidnappings and massacres, as well as civil society organizations in the DRC, filed a complaint with the Belgian federal prosecutor's office on Friday, July 10, 2026, and also a "Communication under Article 15," the equivalent of a complaint to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The complaint alleges crimes against humanity, which the plaintiffs claim have been committed regularly for the past six years against those who oppose the presidential clan's control over Katanga's mineral resources.

A complaint was filed a year ago in Brussels against nine members of Félix Tshisekedi's family. Now, the repression that enabled this looting is under investigation.

Eleven cases highlighted

The lawyers denounce eleven episodes for which a crime against humanity has been documented, such as the hundreds of deaths and injuries in 2024 at the Kinshasa prison of Makala and several massacres in Lubumbashi, Kolwezi or elsewhere in Katanga.

According to Hervé Diakiese, the repression relies on the MSU, the Force of Progress militia of the ruling party, the UDPS, and on members of President Félix Tshisekedi's ethnic group: "There is a discourse of superiority conveyed by certain pastors from the president's ethnic area. There have been these kinds of discourses, held by administrative authorities and authorities vested with state power, that the Luba, as they identify, in fact, the people of Kasai, do not just have power, 'they are power'."

And for lawyer Bernard Maingain, the Congolese justice system is failing to do its job in the face of repression: “We are precisely in this situation of judicial failure in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we regret it. The conditions for making what is called ‘communication,’ Article 15 of the Rome Statute, are perfectly met. The referral is made by the lawyers, and no one can oppose it. No one can declare it inadmissible.”

It is now up to the prosecutors in Brussels and The Hague to decide whether or not to open an investigation.