Congo sues Norway for 500 Billion $, seeks to put two Norwegians on death row

[Syt]

Reuters: Congo prosecutor wants death penalty for Norwegians

KISANGANI, Congo (Reuters) - A military prosecutor in Congo asked a court on Friday to sentence to death two Norwegians accused of killing their driver in the lawless east of the country in May this year.

The Norwegians, Joshua French, 27, and Tjostolv Moland, 28, were charged with murder, attempted murder, espionage, conspiracy and armed robbery after their driver was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head east of the city of Kisangani.

"May it please the garrison military court to say that the accusations against Tjostolv Moland and Joshua (French) are established and to sentence them ... to the death penalty," prosecutor Major Jean Blaise Bwa Mulundu said.

The Norwegians had previously served in Oslo's armed forces. Norwegian diplomats say contacts between the accused and their country's military or any other official organisation were discontinued in 2007.

It is not clear what the two accused were doing in the area. Ex-soldiers are frequently taken on by private security companies who have stepped up interest in the region due to oil discoveries under Lake Albert, which lies on the border between Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

Mulundu requested the death penalty for each of the five charges against the two defendants. The verdict is expected to be handed down by the military court next week.

The prosecution demanded this week that Norway pay Congo $500 billion in damages over the incident.

French said he was not surprised by the prosecution's statement. "I don't think any recognised nation would accept this trial in any way or accept any of the evidence," he added. 

French and Moland have said that 47-year-old driver Abedi Kasongo was shot and killed when their car was attacked by gunmen on the road, 100 km (60 miles) east of the town of Kisangani.

The men were travelling in Congo's northeastern Orientale province, which is still unstable and plagued by armed groups six years after the country's war officially ended.

But the region is starting to attract investors after the discovery of billions of barrels of oil on the Ugandan side of the border by London-listed Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil.

1. If those are 500 billion Congo-$ it'll be what? 10.34 EUR?
2. Is Joshua French a typical Norwegian name?

[Martinus]

If Norwegians had any balls (and more importantly, any military to speak of), they would order a retaliatory military strike against these savages.

[Admiral Yi]

$500 billion is a couple rounds of beers in Norway, isn't it?

[Ed Anger]

If Norwegians had any balls (and more importantly, any military to speak of), they would order a retaliatory military strike against these savages.

Unilateralist. 

[Syt]

If Norwegians had any balls (and more importantly, any military to speak of), they would order a retaliatory military strike against these savages.

Somehow I think the Norwegian authorities don't care much:

Norwegian diplomats say contacts between the accused and their country's military or any other official organisation were discontinued in 2007.

[merithyn]

If Norwegians had any balls (and more importantly, any military to speak of), they would order a retaliatory military strike against these savages.

Somehow I think the Norwegian authorities don't care much:

Norwegian diplomats say contacts between the accused and their country's military or any other official organisation were discontinued in 2007.

I think that was put in to disavow any "official" reason they would be in Congo, i.e. to argue against the spying charge.

[The Brain]

The Norwegians had previously served in Oslo's armed forces

Squee! The South (of Norway) has risen again!

[Viking]

What they are asking for is 1.3 times our sovereign wealth "oil" fund. A ludicrous amount of money but more importantly the Kingdom of Norway is not a party to this case and cannot be fined anything. Sovereign immunity (I think that is what it is called when you can't sue a country in civil court not in that country) also applies.

Joshua French is not a typical Norwegian. His names i pronounced with the English pronunciation in the news here. But he is Norwegian.

[Viking]

If Norwegians had any balls (and more importantly, any military to speak of), they would order a retaliatory military strike against these savages.

Norwegians don't have any balls. The military is busy shooting people in Afghanistan, which nobody is talking about.

[DGuller]

What do law talkers think, is Congo likely to get their $500 billion?

[grumbler]

What do law talkers think, is Congo likely to get their $500 billion?

Even if they got it, Nigerian scammers would have it all in six months.

[Slargos]

The entire trial has been a complete farce, and it has only served to confirm my suspicions that all black africans are infact retarded.

The more notable funnies from the snippets I've seen:

- Accusations of espionage based on the fact that the accused were in the king's guard during their military service.
- Displaying a picture of a norwegian newspaper journalist clad in a mock SAS beret, pointing at Congo on a map as evidence that they are special forces sent by the King of Norway to destabilize Congo. Mostly since, "no one who is not military can wear a beret".

Apparently the owner of the car is demanding $10m in restitution since he's out a vehicle, aswell.

At the very least, Norway should immediately stop paying out welfare checks to those fucking barbarians.

Fucking cangaroo court.

[Slargos]

If Norwegians had any balls (and more importantly, any military to speak of), they would order a retaliatory military strike against these savages.

Somehow I think the Norwegian authorities don't care much:

Norwegian diplomats say contacts between the accused and their country's military or any other official organisation were discontinued in 2007.

I think that was put in to disavow any "official" reason they would be in Congo, i.e. to argue against the spying charge.

Unfortunately, that's the way it will look to people who haven't followed the trial.

In reality, the espionage and smuggling are complete and utter bollocks. They're working for a nominally Norwegian "security firm" that has actually moved to Uganda since the Norwegian government attempted to shut it down by way of imprisoning the owner on mercenary charges.

The claims about espionage, when taking into account the fairy tales they're spinning around the entire thing, hold no water what so ever.

Whether they actually murdered the driver is doubtful as well, since the standard for "evidence" seems to be pretty low where they're being tried.

[Razgovory]

Hey wait a second, didn't I hear this in a song before?


Roland was a warrior from the land of the midnight sun
With his Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

Through '66 and 7, they fought the Congo war
With their fingers on their triggers, knee deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese

[DisturbedPervert]

Meanwhile, their captors continue to use the Pgymies as tater tots.