U.S, March 18 -- The Democratic Republic of the Congo has decided to end a more than twenty-year-long ban on the capital punishment due to ongoing armed conflicts and militant attacks. The Ministry of Justice of this central African country announced the decision, stating that the suspension of death penalty since 2003 has allowed offenders to escape punishment without consequences.

Despite frequent imposition of the death penalty in the DR Congo, no convict has been put to death for more than two decades. Instead, their punishments are usually converted to life imprisonment. In October of last year, Edouard Mwangachuchu, a National Assembly member, was sentenced to death by a military court in the former Belgian colony. The charges incl...