{"id":1864,"date":"2021-04-23T19:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2025-06-20T19:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T19:52:09","slug":"story-kongawi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/story-kongawi\/","title":{"rendered":"Arr\u00eat\u00e9 \u00e0 12 ans, il a \u00e9t\u00e9 priv\u00e9 de son enfance : L\u2019histoire de Kongawi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kongawi n\u2019avait que 12 ans lorsqu\u2019il a \u00e9t\u00e9 arr\u00eat\u00e9 par des militaires en pleine rue, sans aucune explication, dans la localit\u00e9 de Dongo, dans la province de la Mongala. Il venait simplement rendre visite \u00e0 sa tante pour lui demander de l\u2019aide afin de payer ses frais de scolarit\u00e9. Il n\u2019est jamais rentr\u00e9 chez lui.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ce jour-l\u00e0, en octobre 2010, sa vie bascule.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c0 cette p\u00e9riode, un conflit arm\u00e9 fait rage entre les communaut\u00e9s Enyele et Monzaya. Pour \"pacifier\" la r\u00e9gion, des militaires venus de Kinshasa sont d\u00e9ploy\u00e9s et proc\u00e8dent \u00e0 l\u2019arrestation massive de jeunes hommes \u00e0 travers la ville.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kongawi \u00e9tait l\u2019un d\u2019entre eux.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sans proc\u00e8s ni accusation, il est conduit avec d'autres adolescents \u00e0 Gemena, puis embarqu\u00e9 \u00e0 bord d\u2019un avion militaire \u00e0 destination de Kinshasa. Lorsqu\u2019il atterrit, totalement d\u00e9sorient\u00e9, il est directement transf\u00e9r\u00e9 \u00e0 la prison centrale de Makala. Nous sommes le 7 octobre 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c0 son arriv\u00e9e, il est affect\u00e9 au Pavillon 5. Priv\u00e9 de tout soutien juridique ou social, Kongawi survit dans des conditions inhumaines : une seule ration quotidienne de \u201c<\/span>vungule\u201d<\/span><\/i> (un m\u00e9lange de ma\u00efs et de haricots), un acc\u00e8s \u00e0 l\u2019eau extr\u00eamement limit\u00e9, et des nuits pass\u00e9es accroch\u00e9 aux barreaux des fen\u00eatres d\u2019a\u00e9ration pour \u00e9chapper aux agressions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dans ces conditions, son \u00e9tat de sant\u00e9 se d\u00e9t\u00e9riore rapidement. Il est transf\u00e9r\u00e9 \u00e0 deux reprises au Pavillon 7, r\u00e9serv\u00e9 aux d\u00e9tenus souffrant de malnutrition, qui b\u00e9n\u00e9ficient de compl\u00e9ments alimentaires fournis par le Comit\u00e9 international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR). Il est \u00e9galement admis \u00e0 l\u2019infirmerie de la prison pour une hernie s\u00e9v\u00e8re n\u00e9cessitant une op\u00e9ration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ce fut son quotidien pendant dix ans et six mois.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plusieurs des jeunes arr\u00eat\u00e9s en m\u00eame temps que lui n\u2019ont pas surv\u00e9cu \u00e0 la d\u00e9tention. D\u2019autres ont perdu la vie lors de l\u2019\u00e9vasion collective de 2017, men\u00e9e par la secte \u00ab\u202fMwana Nsemi\u202f\u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Demeur\u00e9 seul, Kongawi s\u2019en remet \u00e0 sa foi. Il s\u2019efforce de rester en paix avec tous, \u00e9vitant tout conflit.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Une rencontre miraculeuse<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Un matin d\u2019ao\u00fbt 2020, \u00e0 la fin d\u2019un culte religieux organis\u00e9 \u00e0 la prison, il croise le chemin d\u2019un repr\u00e9sentant de notre organisation. Il rencontre ensuite Ma\u00eetre Guy Kabeya, l\u2019un de nos avocats partenaires, qui prend en charge son dossier. Pour la premi\u00e8re fois depuis dix ans, une perspective de justice s\u2019ouvre \u00e0 lui.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apr\u00e8s plusieurs mois de d\u00e9marches aupr\u00e8s des autorit\u00e9s judiciaires et une campagne m\u00e9diatique men\u00e9e aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s de nos partenaires, Kongawi est enfin lib\u00e9r\u00e9 en avril 2021, une semaine apr\u00e8s la f\u00eate de P\u00e2ques.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c0 sa sortie, il n\u2019a exprim\u00e9 ni col\u00e8re, ni rancune. Seulement une immense lassitude, et une volont\u00e9 de se reconstruire.<\/span>
<\/span> Il se d\u00e9crit comme \u00ab un ressuscit\u00e9 \u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mais la libert\u00e9 ne suffit pas \u00e0 r\u00e9parer ce qui lui a \u00e9t\u00e9 vol\u00e9 : <\/strong>son enfance.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Soutenez nos actions<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Aidez-nous \u00e0 fournir de une aide juridique, un soutien psychosocial et \u00e0 restaurer la dignit\u00e9 de toutes les personnes incarc\u00e9r\u00e9es injustement.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRejoignez-nous<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kongawi was only 12 years old when he was arrested by soldiers in broad daylight, without explanation, in the town of Dongo, in the province of Mongala. He had simply gone to visit his aunt to ask for help paying his school fees. He never made it home. That day, in October 2010, his life changed forever. At the time, violent conflict was raging between the Enyele and Monzaya communities. In an attempt to \u201crestore order,\u201d soldiers from Kinshasa were deployed to the region and began arbitrarily arresting young men across the town. Kongawi was one of them. Without trial or formal charges, the young boy was taken with other teenagers to Gemena, then transported by military aircraft to Kinshasa. Disoriented and terrified, he arrived at the gates of Makala Central Prison on October 7th, 2010. Upon arrival, he was placed in Pavilion 5. With no legal or social support, Kongawi was forced to survive in inhumane conditions: one daily ration of \u201cvungule\u201d (a mix of maize and beans), extremely limited access to water, and long nights sleeping up high near the barred ventilation windows to avoid violence. His health deteriorated rapidly. He was transferred twice to Pavilion 7 for malnourished detainees, where humanitarian aid from the ICRC provided minimal food supplements. He was also admitted to the prison infirmary with a severe hernia that nearly required surgery. This was his daily reality for ten and a half years. Several of the boys arrested with him did not survive the prison. Others died during a mass escape in 2017 orchestrated by the \u201cMwana Nsemi\u201d sect. Left alone, Kongawi turned inward \u2014 guided by his faith and a quiet resolve to avoid conflict at all costs. A miraculous encounter In August 2020, after a religious service in prison, Kongawi met one of our team members. Soon after, he was introduced to Ma\u00eetre Guy Kabeya, one of our legal partners, who agreed to take on his case. For the first time in a decade, the possibility of justice began to take shape. After several months of legal procedures and a media campaign led with our partners, Kongawi was finally released in April 2021, a week after Easter. When he walked out of prison, he expressed no anger, no bitterness. Only deep exhaustion \u2014 and a quiet desire to rebuild. He describes himself as \u201cresurrected.\u201d But freedom alone cannot restore what was taken from him: his entire childhood. Support our work Help us provide legal aid, psychosocial support, and a path to dignity for those wrongfully imprisoned. Join us today<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-stories"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014.jpg",1080,810,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014.jpg",1080,810,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014.jpg",1080,810,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"large":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014.jpg",1080,810,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014.jpg",1080,810,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG-20201011-WA0014-16x12.jpg",16,12,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Jessica","author_link":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/author\/wpusername7119\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Our stories<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Kongawi was only 12 years old when he was arrested by soldiers in broad daylight, without explanation, in the town of Dongo, in the province of Mongala. He had simply gone to visit his aunt to ask for help paying his school fees. He never made it home. That day, in October 2010, his life\u2026","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1876,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864\/revisions\/1876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgy.031.myftpupload.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}