A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced former President Joseph Kabila to death in absentia, convicting him of crimes including war crimes, treason, crimes against humanity, murder, sexual assault, torture, and insurrection.
Kabila, who spent almost two decades in power before stepping down in 2018, has been residing mostly in South Africa since late 2023.
He was tried in absentia for allegedly supporting the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who have seized large swaths of mineral-rich eastern DRC.
The former president has denounced the trial as political persecution, while his political party secretary, Ferdinand Kambere, described the move as “relentlessness and persecution against a member of the opposition”.
The DRC lifted its moratorium on the death penalty last year, but no judicial executions have been carried out since.
