• Rival Muslim groups clashed during post-Ramadan Eid on May 13 in Kinshasa
• Police chief in the capital confirmed the death of a policeman and injuries to scores
• DRC has since 2003 commuted death sentences to life imprisonment

Thirty people have been sentenced to death by a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC; for their roles in deadly post-Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr; anti-police riot.

Judicial sources confirmed that the sentence was handed down today (May 15) after a one-day trial into violence that killed a policeman and left scores injured outside the Kinshasa Martyrs Stadium on Thursday.

International news agency, AFP, confirmed the sentence citing a video clip of the verdict. AFP also quoted a lawyer for the convicts, Chief Tshipamba, as confirming the sentence.

The sprawling country which straddles Central and southern Africa has not carried out death penalties since a moratorium was introduced in 2003. Since then, death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment.

The violence erupted after rival Muslim groups clashed over the rights to observe the Eid prayers at the stadium.

Police chief of the capital, Sylvano Kasongo, said around 40 people were hurt and 35 had been arrested.

Around 10 percent of the DRC’s population are Muslim, most concentrated in the country’s east.