The man, who is a key witness in the ongoing murder trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was found dead in his cell on October 23.

The UN suspects that he died hours after having been served his evening meal, according to the confidential report. A first examination of his body reveals that a substance normally used for insecticides has been found in his stomach.

This is the first time the UN claims that a witness has died in custody.

“Further testing is planned to confirm if the substance was in lethal quantity”, the report says. It is dated to the 12 of December and is written by the head attorney Mr. Robert Petit who was sent to the DRC by the Secretary-General of the UN, to assist in the ongoing investigation.

New information about colonel Mambweni

Swedish television´s Mission Investigate was recently able to disclose how the top UN leadership had covered up vital information on the murders of the Swedish UN expert Zaida Catalán and her American colleague Michael Sharp. A leak from within the UN Headquarters in New York shows that they have had access to information pointing to DRC officials. But that information that was kept out of the only UN report published about the murders so far.

Furthermore, recordings made by Mission Investigate in DRC showed that the ranking officer, colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni, who was indicated in the UN report, had lied in his testimony during the trial.

The new secret UN report states that the Congolese Prosecutor suspects that Colonel Mambweni is behind the murders:

“The prosecution has now stated that Colonel Mambweni was involved in the planning of the murders and that this planning had started before the March 2017 trip led by the UN Experts”, Mr. Petit writes.

Colonel Mambweni was remanded in custody December 6 but is still not a suspect.

“My reports are confidential”

The new UN report also makes note that one of the militiamen charged with taking part in the assassination of Zaida Catalán and Michael Sharp, actually worked for the Congolese Army.

Mission Investigate has asked Robert Petit for a comment. He has earlier declined to make any comments on his reports.

– My reports are confidential. I will send my report directly to the Secretary-General. I will not comment on this, neither confirm nor dement it, he said earlier this autumn.

The report Deceptive diplomacy was broadcasted on SVT1 on Wednesday the 28th of November and is available on SVT Play.