The preliminary investigation has been ongoing since Catalán and two other UN workers were found murdered almost eight years ago. The investigation has been conducted in cooperation with, among others, the UN and the USA.
But now, there are no further measures that can be taken in the Swedish preliminary investigation, according to prosecutor Sara Nilsson.
It is clear that it is frustrating, above all for the relatives. And unfortunate. Our task is to investigate crimes and we have not succeeded in that mission, she says.
The investigation has, according to her, been complicated by the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Firstly, we have no agreement with the DRC. It has also been complicated by information that individuals connected to the state apparatus were involved in the murders, says Nilsson.
State actors
In 2018, among others, Uppdrag granskning revealed that the UN had had information for a long time that actors within the Congolese state could be linked to the murders.
Nilsson cannot say anything more about the suspicions, except that they have complicated the investigation.
The circumstance, together with the challenges that exist in the DRC, means that as a prosecutor, I must be cautious about sending information to that country.
In January 2022, 51 people were sentenced to death for involvement in the murders. At the same time, a colonel, who had previously been suspected of direct involvement, was sentenced to ten years' hard labor for failing to help people in danger.
Found buried
Whether those responsible were actually convicted, the Swedish prosecutor does not want to comment on.
The only thing one can establish there is that the legal security requirements that exist in Sweden did not exist in that trial, she says.
Zaida Catalán was part of a small UN group that was on a mission in Kasaï Central in the spring of 2017. They were kidnapped by militiamen from Kamuina Nsapu, who were involved in a rebellion against the Congolese central government. After a week, the Swede and the two other murder victims, Michael Sharp and Betu Shintela, were found buried in the area.
