Big Story! Tshisekedi’s Gov’t Hands Death Sentence To Former President Joseph Kabila

By Frank Kamuntu

A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sentenced former President Joseph Kabila to death in absentia, convicting him on charges ranging from treason to crimes against humanity.

Delivering the ruling on Tuesday, Lieutenant General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi said the court found Kabila guilty of treason, murder, sexual assault, torture, and insurrection.

“In applying Article 7 of the Military Penal Code, it imposes a single sentence, namely the most severe one, which is the death penalty,” Katalayi declared.

Kabila, who ruled the DRC from 2001 to 2019, fled the country in 2023 but recently resurfaced in Goma, an eastern city now under the control of the M23 rebel group. Prosecutors accused him of supporting the Rwanda-backed rebels, who captured swathes of territory this year. Rwanda denies any involvement, though UN investigators have said its forces played a “critical” role in M23’s offensive.

The former president neither attended the trial nor sent legal representation. His whereabouts remain unclear, and neither he nor his aides were immediately available for comment. Kabila has previously dismissed the proceedings as politically motivated, branding the courts “an instrument of oppression.”

Analysts say the verdict may be more about politics than justice. “Kabila has been a thorn in the side of President Félix Tshisekedi for some time,” said Yinka Adegoke, Africa editor at Semafor. “The problem with this sentencing now is that it could make Kabila supporters feel that this is all politically motivated.”

The DRC Senate stripped Kabila of immunity in May, a move he condemned as dictatorial. The ruling follows the government’s decision last year to lift a moratorium on capital punishment, though executions have not been carried out in years.

Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia pushed for the maximum penalty, accusing Kabila of plotting to overthrow Tshisekedi and linking him to atrocities committed by M23 rebels, including killings, torture, and sexual violence.

Despite Tuesday’s ruling, Kabila’s arrest remains improbable, though the verdict could deepen instability. Appeals are only possible on procedural grounds before the Court of Cassation.

The case unfolds against a backdrop of fragile peace efforts. In June, Kinshasa and Kigali signed an agreement in Washington, DC, followed by a declaration with M23 rebels in Qatar the following month. Yet violence persists, with rights groups documenting summary executions, rapes, and kidnappings. A UN probe in September concluded that all parties to the conflict may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.