Made public during a press conference held in Kinshasa on February 29, 2024, the report of the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation concluded that the former Minister of Transport and Communication, Chérubin Okende Senga, had committed suicide. This theory quickly provoked reactions among the public opinion, especially within the ranks of human rights organizations, the opposition, and the family of the deceased.

"Following this announcement, I have heard gossip in all directions, spread in the media about the conclusions of the aforementioned expert reports, which I made public, with the barely hidden intention of political exploitation and to discredit justice. In the face of these allegations, I ask you to question anyone who is the author of them in order to enlighten your lantern, while reminding you that baseless assertions constituting false rumors are punishable by law,” wrote Firmin Mvonde to the Prosecutor of the Republic near the High Court of Kinshasa/Gombe.

In the same vein, he asks the latter to make available to the family of the deceased all the files of the case, the minutes related to them, as well as the vehicle where the deceased was found dead. This letter also notes that on February 29, 2024, the family of Chérubin Okende refused to respond to the invitation of the public prosecutor's office near the TGI/Gombe, where they were supposed to be informed about the converging conclusion of the reports of the investigations conducted by the experts around this murder.

"I instruct you, upon receipt of this letter, to notify them, even by means of a bailiff. Similarly, you will ensure to indicate, during said notification, the address where the vehicle in which the decedent’s dead body was found is parked, and to bring out the addresses of the experts," we can read in the correspondence.

Found dead, his body bloody, on July 13, 2023, along Poids-Lourds Avenue, in the Gombe district of Kinshasa, Chérubin Okende had committed suicide according to the justice system. According to the conclusions of the investigations, the unfortunate man had self-inflicted a bullet in the temple. According to the Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Firmin Mvonde, an agenda attributed to Chérubin Okende was found during a search conducted in the presence of the widow. In this agenda, which was missing other pages, was written: "I am at the end of my rope." A phrase that would have reinforced the theory of suicide mentioned in the investigation report.

Dido Nsapu