By: Eugene Upah
Former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has been sentenced to death in absentia by a military court on charges of treason, war crimes and crimes against humanity, the court announced on Friday.
The conviction is linked to accusations that Kabila supported the M23 rebel group, which has inflicted widespread devastation and seized large swaths of the country’s mineral-rich eastern region. The charges on which the former president was convicted include murder, sexual assault, torture and organizing an insurrection.
Kabila, 54, who led the DR Congo for 18 years until 2019, denied the charges but failed to appear in court to defend himself. His current whereabouts remain unknown. He previously denounced the case as “arbitrary” and labeled the courts an “instrument of oppression.”
The landmark verdict has immediately fueled political tension. For instance, Kabila’s allies, like a former minister and Kabila ally, Kikaya Bin Karubi, dismissed the entire trial as “theatrical” and accused the government of President Félix Tshisekedi of using the judiciary as an “instrument of dictatorship.”
Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23 rebel leader, claimed on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the death sentence violated the peace talks currently underway with the government.
The prosecution follows a move in April this year to strip Kabila of his legal immunity after President Tshisekedi accused his predecessor of being the “brains behind the M23.”
Kabila and Tshisekedi were once allies, with Kabila backing Tshisekedi in the disputed 2019 elections, but the relationship soured, leading to Kabila’s self-imposed exile in 2023.
The conflict in the east, which has continued despite a ceasefire deal agreed upon in July, is a regional crisis. The UN and several Western nations continue to accuse neighboring Rwanda of supporting the M23 and sending thousands of soldiers into the DR Congo, a charge Kigali vehemently denies.
