Assets of rape doctor Denis Mukwege seized in DRC probe
Denis Mukwege speaks at an event in Washington, DC on February 25, 2014. FILE PHOTO | WIN MCNAMEE |
What you need to know:
- Mukwege called the seizure of his hospital’s bank accounts “unjustified” and fiscal “harassment”.
KINSHASA, Friday
Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, famed for helping rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, yesterday called the seizure of his hospital’s bank accounts “unjustified” and fiscal “harassment”.
Panzi hospital in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, had announced this week that the authorities had seized its accounts and it could no longer withdraw money.
Mukwege, the hospital’s founder, told AFP by phone from Bukavu that the action purportedly for tax evasion was “unjustified.”
“I am stunned that only Panzi hospital has been submitted to this fiscal harassment” by the tax authorities, Mukwege said.
For the past 15 years the Panzi hospital has specialised in treating the victims, mostly women, of violent sexual assault in the country’s volatile eastern region, where the army has been fighting rival militia groups.
Militants vying for control of the area’s minerals use rape to terrorise the local population.
