Congo opposition boycott parliament
Defeated presidential candidate’s party complains of harassment and intimidation.
An MLC spokesman said that the statement had been read to a joint session of parliament late on Friday.
MP’s home ‘ransacked’
Luhaka said the party’s decision not to participate in parliament was taken after the home of one of the party’s MPs was ransacked by about a dozen Republican Guards.
He added that there was a “targeted and programmed operation” against MLC members.
Jean-Pierre Bemba, the party leader and defeated presidential candidate, left for medical treatment in Portugal on Wednesday.
Bemba had been living in the South African embassy in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, since March when government troops clashed with his bodyguards when they refused an order to disarm.
The charges against him include threatening internal state security, murder, armed robbery and destruction of property.
An MLC spokesman said the party’s suspension of National Assembly activities did not affect senators, who are expected to vote on whether to lift Bemba’s immunity once the Supreme Court approves bylaws for the Senate, which could take another week.