The brutal killing of a Congolese refugee in Brazil has sparked international outrage.
Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police say Moise Kabagambe, 24, was attacked by a group of men in the upmarket neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca. He was tied up and repeatedly struck with a club and a baseball bat during the attack. Kabagambe had reportedly demanded back pay for two days serving drinks at the kiosk. After the attack, the kiosk owner helped investigators track down the suspects.
They are still on the hunt for a fourth.
“He wanted his money and they didn’t want to pay him. That’s when the argument started. The manager grabbed a piece of wood to hit him. He (Kabagambe) grabbed a chair to defend himself,” the victim’s brother, Sammy Kabagambe, told the AFP.
According to Reuters, Kabagambe arrived in Brazil over a decade ago as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. His family told reporters he was an architecture student.
“They killed him like an animal,” Kabagambe’s mother Ivana Lay told the Extra daily newspaper. “They killed my son because he was Black, because he was African,” she said.
There have been calls for protest on Saturday by the kiosk on Barra de Tijuca beach and a simultaneous demonstration in Sao Paulo.
Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor Eduardo Paes said Kabamgabe’s condemned the “unacceptable and outrageous” and that those responsible would be punished.
Brazil is home to 73,000 registered refugees and more than 231,000 asylum seekers, according to the UNHCR. Only 1,826 of the country’s refugees hail from DRC.
