The trial of 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes against civilians in the country’s conflict-battered east opened Monday.
The soldiers are accused of having broken into civilian homes in several villages of the Kabare and Kalehe territories in the eastern province of South Kivu over the weekend, raping several women and killing at least 12 people.
The accused soldiers were brought before a military court in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu, on Monday.
The civil party requested the death penalty for all of the accused