A Congolese priest who was killed in a hail of bullets was a “martyr of the truth”, according to a priest who knew him. Assumptionist Fr Vincent Machozi, 51, had previously received death threats for drawing attention to the suffering of the Nande people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to News.va, the official Vatican news portal, this suffering was caused by “different armed groups dedicated to the illegal exploitation of [the metallic ore] coltan in the Territory of Beni, often with the connivance of the regular army”. Fr Machozi had just visited his mother and held a meeting with the elders of Butembo last month when a jeep with 10 armed soldiers arrived at his house. Assumptionist Fr Benoit Griere, the order’s superior general, said: “The soldiers demanded to know where Vincent Machozi was. Figuring out who he was in the small group gathered there, the assailants immediately riddled him with bullets. He died instantly.” The News.va account said his last words were “Why are you killing me?” Fr Mulumba Kambale Matsongani, a Congolese Assumptionist based in America, studied and served in Massachusetts with Fr Machozi. They co-founded a Congolese Catholic community in Boston archdiocese and an organisation of Nande people in the United States. Fr Matsongani said: “He was a tremendous teacher. He’s a smart guy and he’s full of initiative. He started an ecumenical movement in the [Congolese] Diocese of Butembo-Beni. He could unite all of the Christian churches to discuss important issues on faith, politics ... and this was ... appreciated by many.” Because of the death threats, Fr Machozi came to the United States in 2003, but continued to edit a website, benilubero.com. He returned to the Congo in 2011. Fr Matsongani said Fr Machozi “could post some truth about what is going on in the Congo, so he was very much immersed in Church and politics”. Among items he posted were interviews with people who escaped massacres, describing what they saw and heard, he said. Fr Machozi entered the Augustinians of the Assumption aged 17. After studying in France he was ordained a priest in Angers in 1994. He taught at the seminary in Kinshasa, and earned a doctorate at Boston University in conflict resolution.