DRC: Lawyer Guillaume Muyembe arbitrarily detained incommunicado for one month
4 June 2025
Mr Guillaume Muyembe is a Congolese lawyer at the Kinshasa Gombe Bar, specialising in mining law. On 29 April 2025, he was kept in detention after being summoned by the DRC’s National Cyber Defence Council. His family and associates have not heard from him since.
Mr Muyembe was summoned to the National Cyber Defence Council, a specialised service attached to the Office of the President of the Republic, to be questioned about a client. According to one of his colleagues, he arrived at the premises on the evening of 29 April. He has not been heard from since.
The law firm Calwe & Associés, where Mr Muyembe works, had already been subjected to intimidation on 29 April. Two individuals showed up at the office, saying they were looking for the lawyer. Since Muyembe wasn’t there, they came back later in the day with heavily armed soldiers. Six people working at the firm were taken to the National Cyber Defence Council and had their phones taken.
When they returned to the office, the partners found that it had been searched by the authorities without a search warrant and without a lawyer or member of the Bar Council present, and that computers had been seized.
The Observatory demands the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Guillaume Muyembe and an end to the intimidation against him.
The Observatory strongly condemns the attacks on the freedom of the legal profession and professional secrecy perpetrated by the authorities.
The Observatory urges the Congolese authorities to fully respect the rights of the defence and to guarantee the safety and independence of lawyers in the exercise of their duties.
The Observatory calls on the Congolese authorities to respect their commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in particular Article 9, which states that: ” 1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law. 2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.”
The Observatory recalls that, in accordance with the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, in particular principles 16, 17 and 18:
“Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (…)” (Principle 16)
“Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities.” (Principle 17)
“Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.” (Principle 18)
