The commercial court in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has convicted the French national, Stéphane Giannesini, for illegal trade in Congolese mineral substances. He has just been sentenced to five years of penal servitude (prison) and a fine of nearly half a million dollars

The sentence was pronounced on Tuesday after “flagrante delicto” proceedings. After two days of trial, the president of the commercial court, Daniel Sumbala, pronounced this sentence, specifying that Giannesini was being tried for four offenses: the illegal purchase and possession of mineral substances, customs fraud and money laundering. The convicted person promised to appeal within 72 hours, said UN-sponsored Okapi Radio. Security services arrested Giannesini at Goma International Airport on Sunday with two gold bars. After analysis in the laboratory, the results proved that it was not gold but rather a mixture of copper and zinc. The defendant's defense specified that his client was tricked by a group with whom he had an agreement to purchase 15 kilos of gold, whose first payment of 80,000 dollars (just over 73,000 euros, editor's note) was