intelligence services; 39 protesters were killed, including at least eight women and five children, and at least 100 were injured. No legal action was known to have been taken against the perpetrators by the end of the year. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS Human rights defenders and youth activists were targeted by security forces and armed groups for their work; they included Alex Tsongo Sikuliwako and Alphonse Kaliyamba, killed in North Kivu. In May, the Senate passed a bill purporting to strengthen protection for human rights defenders. However, the bill contained a restrictive definition of what constituted a human rights defender. It strengthened the state’s control over human rights organizations, and threatened to curtail their activities. It could result in the nonrecognition of human rights organizations. CONFLICT IN THE KASAÏ REGION Violence in the region, which erupted in 2016, spread to five provinces and left thousands dead, and by 25 September, 1 million were internally displaced; there was widespread destruction of social infrastructure and villages. Militias emerged, which increasingly attacked people on the basis of their ethnicity, namely those perceived to support the Kamuena Nsapu uprising. Followers of Kamuena Nsapu were suspected of human rights abuses in the region, including recruitment of child soldiers, rapes, killings, destruction of over 300 schools and of markets, churches, police stations and government buildings. The Bana Mura militia was formed around March by individuals from the Tshokwe, Pende and Tetela ethnic groups with the support of local traditional leaders and security officials. It launched attacks against the Luba and Lulua communities whom it accused of supporting the Kamuena Nsapu uprising. Between March and June, there were reports that in Kamonia territory, the Bana Mura and the army killed around 251 146 people; 62 were children, 30 of them aged under 8. VIOLATIONS BY SECURITY FORCES The Congolese police and army carried out hundreds of extrajudicial killings, rapes, arbitrary arrests and acts of extortion. Between February and April, internet videos showed soldiers executing alleged Kamuena Nsapu followers, including young children. The victims were armed with sticks or defective rifles, or were simply wearing red headbands. The government initially dismissed the accusations, saying they were “fabricated” to discredit the army. However, in February it acknowledged that “excesses” had taken place and pledged to prosecute those suspected of serious human rights violations and abuses in the region, including its security forces. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY On 6 July, seven army soldiers were given sentences of between one year and life imprisonment in connection with extrajudicial executions in Mwanza-Lomba, a village in Kasaï Oriental province. The sentences followed a trial in which the victims were not identified and nor were their relatives given the opportunity to testify before the court or seek reparations. On 12 March, Swedish national Zaida Catalan and US national Michael Sharp, both members of the UN Security Council DRC Sanctions Committee’s Group of Experts, were executed during an investigative mission in the Kasaï Central province. Their bodies were found 16 days later, near Bunkonde village. Zaida Catalan had been beheaded. Three of their drivers and an interpreter who accompanied them disappeared and had not been found by the end of the year. In April, the authorities showed diplomats and journalists in Kinshasa a video of the execution of the two experts; the origins of the video remained unknown. The video, which claimed that Kamuena Nsapu “terrorists” were the perpetrators, was shared on the internet and admitted as evidence in the ongoing military court trial of the people accused of the killings. The trial began on 5 June in the city of Kananga. Amnesty International Report 2017/18