Congo opens trial in dictator's death

KINSHASA, Congo -- Congo opened a military trial Friday in the mystery-shrouded 2001 assassination of dictator Laurent Kabila.

Some 100 men and women -- Kabila's former guards and aides, as well as the wives and girlfriends of suspects -- crowded a prison courtroom to face undisclosed charges. Military prosecutor Col. Charles Alamba said the charges would be revealed Tuesday.

Human rights groups say many of the accused have been tortured during a year in custody.

Few, if any, have had access to lawyers or information on the case against them.

"Their right to defense has been denied. We just met them in the courtroom for the first time," said Lofele Lifeyi, a lawyer for the defendants.

Laurent Kabila, a longtime rebel who seized power in 1997, was shot at his desk in the presidential palace in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, on Jan. 16, 2001.

Soldiers in his presidential guard accused one of Kabila's young bodyguards of firing the fatal shots. They executed him within hours of Kabila's killing.

Laurent Kabila's son, Joseph, succeeded him as Congo's leader.