The District Court of Kalamu has rejected a request by lawyers representing Bishop Pascal Mukuna to have him released from prison.
The controversial pastor is being held at Kinshasa's Central Makala Prison on charges of rape; his first court appearance was on 29 May 2020 and has know been postponed to the 5th of June 2020.
The rape charges against Mukuna was brought forward by Mamie Tshibola , the wife of Mukuna's close associate Nkantshia Milongo, who has since past away.
In the court papers Tshibola argued that the Bishop had been withholding property documents belonging to her late husband and would only hand them over to her if she gave in to his sexual advances. After being hesitant for sometime she eventually granted the pastor his wish.
Tshibola has since made use of social media platform to post the tape capturing the sexual moment.
But supporters of Bishop Mukuna and members of his church, The Christian Assembly of Kinshasa, sees his arrest as a political ploy.
Mukuna is known for his fierce critism of former President Joseph Kabila; just before he was arrested ,he had been publicly supporting sentiments that the former President was not the biological son of the late Laurent Desire Kabila. It's for this reason that some believe Mrs Tshibola was being paid by Kabila's backers to persuit charges against the Pastor.
There are also those, however, who have shown little sympathy for Mukana, accusing him of being a greedy opportunist who was once a Kabila loyalist himself.
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