Despite notable efforts by the police and gendarmerie to curb rising banditry, the Congolese justice system, with a knife to its throat, appears to be the weak link in the security apparatus. Escapes, unexplained releases, overcrowded prisons: we delve into the heart of a system that, despite itself, fuels the spiral of crime. What will become of the Kulunas and Black Babies crammed into police stations? A vicious cycle—once released, these young brigands reoffend. “In the snake’s tail, the venom” (so to speak).
With knives between their teeth, the police are on the front line, but justice is absent. In this case, delinquency seems to be on the “right side of the handle“. Knife-wielding killers make the Law, the law of the craziest. For several months, the security forces of Congo-Brazzaville, on the brink, have redoubled their efforts against the resurgence of terror by “Black Babies” and “Kulunas“: in vain.
Driven by the new command of the national police, installed in July 2024, large-scale operations have led to the arrest of over 3,000 suspects, including 500 alleged gang members in Brazzaville alone, a city where idleness and unemployment are severely eroding the civic-mindedness of the youth.
But these successes, as spectacular as they are illusory, are immediately thwarted by another actor meant to guarantee public safety: the Justice system.
Criminals arrested, then released “We arrest the delinquents, but they are back on the street even before our reports are filed“, confides a bitter police officer. The cut grass grows back. Morality is wounded by this eternal recurrence.
This observation is widely shared within the ranks of the security forces, where frustration is growing over what they call “institutional sabotage“.
The public’s blood boils when a crime is caught red-handed. So they take justice into their own hands through the barbecue or necklace system. (Burning alive with gasoline).
Conversely (the facts speak for themselves) dozens of criminals arrested by the police in the act are released a few days later, often without trial.
On October 12 last, six detainees escaped from the Bacongo police station. The reason: the overcrowding of detention centers, forcing the police to hold defendants in unsuitable cells. Poor police!
A phenomenon that has now become systemic, which the Justice system struggles—or refuses—to assume
The “50 Cent” case: symbol of a system adrift. Among the many revealing cases of this drift, that of Kouene Bissombolo Huberche, alias 50 Cent, remains emblematic.
Having escaped from Madingou prison, he resurfaced in Brazzaville, implicated