DRC Prosecutor Demands Death Penalty for Former Pr...

DRC Prosecutor Demands Death Penalty for Former President Joseph Kabila

Zim Now Writer

A military prosecutor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has called for the death penalty against former President Joseph Kabila, who is standing trial in absentia on charges of treason and war crimes.

On Friday, General Lucien Rene Likulia, the country’s military auditor general, urged judges to sentence Kabila to death for alleged crimes including homicide, torture, insurrection, and backing Rwanda-linked M23 rebels.

Kabila, who ruled the DRC for nearly two decades before stepping down in 2018, is accused of supporting M23 fighters who seized parts of mineral-rich eastern DRC earlier this year.

He is also accused of plotting to overthrow President Felix Tshisekedi.

According to a charge sheet seen by AFP, the former leader is linked to the “forcible occupation of Goma,” captured by M23 in January before a ceasefire was agreed in July.

Kabila has denounced the proceedings, describing the courts as “an instrument of oppression.” His party’s secretary, Ferdinand Kambere, told Reuters that the trial is nothing more than “relentlessness and persecution against a member of the opposition.”

The DRC lifted its moratorium on the death penalty last year, although no executions have yet been carried out.

The government accuses Kabila of being “one of the initiators” of the Congo River Alliance, the political wing of M23, and of colluding with Rwanda to destabilise the country.

Tshisekedi has branded him the “brains” behind the rebel movement, which has been responsible for atrocities in North and South Kivu.

Kabila briefly reappeared in rebel-held territory in May, meeting local leaders alongside M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka. Days later, his party was banned and his assets were seized. In the same month, the senate voted to strip him of immunity from prosecution.

Although Rwanda denies backing M23, United Nations experts say Rwanda’s army has played a “critical” role in the group’s ongoing offensive.

M23 leaders have distanced themselves from Kabila, with executive secretary Benjamin Mbonimpa dismissing the charges as part of a “malevolent strategy” against the former president.

Kabila has been living abroad, mainly in South Africa, since 2023. Despite his absence, he retains influence in Congolese politics and has openly criticised Tshisekedi’s government as authoritarian.

The DRC’s volatile east has endured decades of armed conflict, with violence escalating since M23’s resurgence in 2021.