A military court in Kinshasa has sentenced former Congolese president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia on charges of treason.
Kabila, 54, was convicted of complicity with the M23 armed movement, which controls parts of eastern Congo with alleged Rwandan support.
The former leader fled the country in 2023, reappearing briefly in Goma this May, a visit that unsettled authorities in the capital.
Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia accused him of plotting to overthrow President Felix Tshisekedi with M23 leader Corneille Nangaa.
The charges ranged from treason and conspiracy to homicide, torture, rape, and organising an insurrectionist movement against the Congolese state.
At the end of a five-hour hearing, the court delivered the sentence “without admitting mitigating circumstances,” rejecting calls for leniency.
His immunity as senator-for-life had been lifted in May, clearing the path for proceedings described by his party as “political.”
Observers believe the ruling seeks to block Kabila from rallying opposition forces, though his current whereabouts remain uncertain.
Kabila ruled from 2001 until 2019, taking office after the assassination of his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
During a May visit to M23-held Goma, he met religious leaders alongside rebel spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka, fuelling suspicions of collaboration.
President Tshisekedi has accused him of masterminding M23’s resurgence, while Kabila has branded the government a dictatorship bent on silencing dissent.
Rwanda denies aiding M23, yet UN investigators say its military has played a decisive role in the rebel group’s advances.
Recent peace agreements in Washington and Doha have failed to quell bloodshed, with NGOs reporting rapes, executions, and kidnappings of civilians.
Despite the death sentence, Kabila’s arrest remains improbable, with appeals possible only on procedural grounds before the Court of Cassation.
The verdict underscores Congo’s turmoil, where armed groups and shifting allegiances keep the east trapped in relentless cycles of violence.