User:Indy beetle/Pentecost Plot

The Pentecost Plot or Pentecost Conspiracy (French: Complot de la Pentecôte) was an alleged scheme organized by several Congolese politicians to overthrow the government of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu. On 30 May 1966 four politicians were arrested for treason and shortly thereafter executed. They are collectively remembered throughout the Congo as the Pendants of Pentecost (French: Pendus de la Pentecote) or the Martyrs of Pentecost (French: Martyrs de la Pentecôte).

Plot, trial, and executions

The jury, after a five minute-long deliberation, resolved that the four were guilty and should receive capital punishment via hanging. Technically this was in violation of Section 194 of the Congolese Penal Code, which stipulated that even if the defendants were implicated in a coup plot, execution was not to be applied under the circumstances.

The bodies were never returned to the families.

References

• "CONGO/Martyrs de la Pentecôte: pendaison publique de 4 innocents!". Culture Congolaise (in French). 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
• "Congo-Zaïre: l'empire du crime permanent, les pendus de la Pentecôte". Le Phare (in French). 29 July 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
• Ikambana, Jean-Louise Peta (2006). Mobutu's Totalitarian Political System: An Afrocentric Analysis. Routledge. ISBN 9781135861513.
• Nzinga Makitu, Germain (21 May 2015). "La profanation de la Pentecôte du 2 juin 1966 : La dimension spirituelle de la crise congolaise – G. Nzinga". DESC-Wondo.org (in French). Retrieved 19 June 2017.
• Willame, Jean-Claude (1972). Patrimonialism and Political Change in the Congo. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0793-0.