A retired American soldier has filed a legal complaint against the Democratic Republic of Congo claiming wrongful imprisonment and torture while on a private mission in the vast Central African nation.
Darryl Lewis delivered his complaint to the government of Kinshasa through the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington, DC.
Lewis was illegally detained for six weeks in the DRC while he was serving as an advisor to former Governor of Katanga Moise Katumbi. He was never charged and now seeks $4.5 million in damages for his illegal six-week incarceration
BELOW IS THE FULL STATEMENT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2016 — Yesterday, at the office of Ambassador François Nkuna Balumuene in Washington, DC, American veteran Darryl Lewis delivered his legal complaint in his suit for torture against two individuals with high-ranking law-enforcement positions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to the complaint, Mr. Lewis was tortured while working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an unarmed advisor to former Katanga Governor Moise Katumbi earlier this year. The complaint states that he was illegally detained for six weeks without being charged with a crime, and that while detained, he was interrogated for up to 16 hours a day, threatened, beaten, scarcely fed, and denied necessities for basic hygiene.
The complaint was also delivered to the two individual defendants in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, earlier today. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
“I’m suing these individuals who have abused their power in the Kabila government as a way of standing up to those who violate basic human rights. I know that I am only one of many to suffer torture at their hands. Although these individuals targeted me because I am an American, these individuals are notorious for their abuses against the Congolese people as well. I hope this case will bring some small measure of justice against persons who have no regard for basic human dignity.”
In his complaint, Mr. Lewis is seeking not less than $4.5 million in damages.
Kinshasatimes