Nearly 200 prisoners in the Democratic Republic of Congo have escaped from a jail in the remote north-west of the country. The mass break-out on Tuesday occurred as a hearing was taking place in their prison in Gemena to try to reduce the backlog of defendants awaiting trial.

Lawyers said the inmates began throwing stones as the court sat through the second of 60 cases scheduled that day. Mutinies are frequent in Congolese prisons where conditions are harsh. Reports say after decades of neglect and successive wars, the Congolese justice system is barely functioning, with many courthouses in ruins and devoid of basic equipment.