KINSHASA, Oct 1 (AGCNewsNet) – A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sentenced former president, Joseph Kabila, to death in absentia on charges of treason, accusing him of colluding with the M23 armed group to destabilize the country.

Kabila, 54, who left the DRC in 2023, was neither present at the trial in Kinshasa nor represented by counsel. Prosecutors alleged that he coordinated with Rwanda to support M23 rebels, who have seized significant territory in the country’s restive east. Additional charges against him included homicide, torture, and rape tied to the militia’s activities.

Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia argued that Kabila sought to overthrow President Felix Tshisekedi in what he described as a coup plot involving former electoral commission chief Corneille Nangaa. Tshisekedi has repeatedly accused Kabila of masterminding the insurgency, while Kabila has dismissed the government as a “dictatorship.”

Observers say the ruling, widely condemned by Kabila’s party as a “political trial,” aims to prevent him from rallying opposition forces within the DRC. His exact whereabouts remain unknown, though he briefly resurfaced in Goma in May where he met local religious leaders alongside M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka.

The DRC lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in 2024, though no executions have been carried out since. Kabila, who led the country from 2001 to 2019 following the assassination of his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila, remains a polarizing figure in Congolese politics.

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