Woman forced to commit public incest and beheaded after serving 'forbidden fish' in DR Congo

A woman was forced commit public incest and then beheaded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after she served a "forbidden fish" to members of an anti-government militia, who then drank her blood.

Crowds cheered as the restaurant owner was publicly shamed and brutalised by armed rebels in April in Luebo. The movement, known as Kamuina Nsapu, is locked in an ongoing struggle with the Congolese state.

The soldiers refrain from eating meat and fish during times of war and they are understood to have become offended when she served them some fish.

They made her commit public incest with her husband's second wife's son, who was also working at the restaurant that day. A woman whipped them with branches while they copulated.

The pair were then sentenced to death and beheaded with machetes in front of the baying mob. Their headless bodies were left out in the sun for two days.

The video and witness testimony was obtained by France 24, who have made a documentary about the bloody conflict between the Congolese Army and Kamuina Nsapu.

Witnesses said the gunmen forced the woman's step-son, who was working with her when the food was served, to rape her in the main public square of Luebo, a town of 40,000 people that was briefly occupied by the Kamuina Nsapu earlier this year.

"She was accused of serving fish to rebels who were fighting on the frontlines in Kabao. They said she gave them beans that contained pieces of a small, local fish," an anonymous resident told the programme makers.

"Convinced that she had broken their protection charms, the council of rebels led by a man named Kabata sentenced both the woman and the son of her husband's second wife [the young man was also working there that day] to commit incest in public."

The witness said locals had no choice but to watch the executions and appear enthusiastic about it," adding: "We were left to fend for ourselves against the armed militants. The police fled a week earlier.

"The two bodies – decapitated and mutilated – stayed there, out in the open, for two days. Eventually, they were buried on the spot. After the village was liberated, the Red Cross moved in and helped move the bodies to a cemetery."

Luebo is a town of around 40,000 people in Kasaï-Occidental province, which was briefly held by the rebels earlier this year.