The Empire of Silence

‘Shutting one’s eyes to the countless crimes, that’s complicity.’ And that’s what Denis Mukwege and many others don’t want to do anymore. Denis was a doctor on duty at the hospital in Lemera, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when it was attacked. He had to watch his patients and colleagues being killed. That was at the beginning of the First Congo War. Decades of violence followed. By the time he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, Denis had treated thousands of women raped by armed rebels. A UN report names the countless war crimes and human rights abuses – but the report is being ignored. The perpetrators have not been prosecuted or charged. Now, the victims want to break their silence and try to put an end to this impunity themselves.