{"id":56111,"date":"2025-10-30T10:56:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T10:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/congolese-soldier-handed-12-month-suspended-sentence-for-kissing-in-uniform\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T12:26:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T12:26:27","slug":"congolese-soldier-handed-12-month-suspended-sentence-for-kissing-in-uniform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/congolese-soldier-handed-12-month-suspended-sentence-for-kissing-in-uniform\/","title":{"rendered":"Congolese soldier handed 12-month suspended sentence for kissing in uniform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ebabi, an officer attached to the military intelligence service in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had visited Raw Studio on October 19 with her fianc\u00e9 to take pre-wedding photographs ahead of their planned ceremony on October 31, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The incident drew attention after Raw Studio published their pictures and videos on TikTok, prompting Ebabi\u2019s arrest on October 24.<\/p>\n<p>During a court hearing on October 28, military prosecutors accused her of bringing the army into disrepute and violating military discipline by displaying affection in uniform.<\/p>\n<p>In her defence, Ebabi said Raw Studio had admitted to sharing the images on TikTok without seeking her authorisation, arguing that the studio should be held accountable and, if necessary, prosecuted.<\/p>\n<p>She stated that she never intended to tarnish the image of the army, which she has loyally served for ten years.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution had requested a 10-year jail term, but Ebabi remained composed, telling the court:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the court finds me innocent, I will thank God. If it finds me guilty, I will still thank God, the Lord of all times and events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Delivering its verdict on the evening of Wednesday, October 29, the court found her guilty of breaching military regulations and imposed a 12-month suspended sentence.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling allows Ebabi to proceed with her wedding as scheduled, though she will be required to maintain good conduct throughout the suspension period to avoid serving the custodial sentence.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-96974 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/drc_soldier_new.jpg\" alt=\"The prosecution had requested a 10-year prison term, accusing the soldier of tarnishing the army\u2019s image after photos of the kiss were shared on social media.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-96975 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/drc_soldier.jpg\" alt=\"The ruling allows Ebabi to proceed with her wedding as scheduled, though she will be required to maintain good conduct throughout the suspension period to avoid serving the custodial sentence.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kinshasa-Gombe Garrison Military Court has sentenced Warrant Officer Sarah Ebabi to a 12-month suspended prison term after she was found guilty of kissing her fianc\u00e9 while dressed in military uniform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000096973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000096973,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eba-83534.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eba-83534.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eba-83534.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eba-83534.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eba-83534.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eba-83534.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000096973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56111"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56111"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}