A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced former president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia, convicting him of war crimes, treason, and crimes against humanity.
The ruling, delivered Tuesday in Kinshasa by Lieutenant-General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi, centers on allegations that Kabila supported Rwanda-backed M23 rebels during their advance in eastern Congo. The court also ordered him to pay nearly $50 billion in damages to the state and victims.
“In applying Article 7 of the Military Penal Code, the only applicable punishment is the most severe one: the death penalty,” Katalayi said.
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Kabila, who governed from 2001 to 2019, was neither present at the trial nor represented by legal counsel. His current whereabouts remain unclear, though he has been reported living mainly in South Africa since 2023. He briefly reappeared in rebel-held Goma in May this year.
The former leader has denied any wrongdoing and accused Congo’s judiciary of political bias.
The verdict comes amid worsening instability in eastern DRC, where M23 rebels, accused of receiving backing from Rwanda and now control large swathes of North and South Kivu. Recent fighting has left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Although a U.S.-brokered peace deal was signed in June, both the Congolese government and M23 have accused each other of violating the agreement.
Kabila’s conviction is expected to further polarize the country. President Félix Tshisekedi has already suspended Kabila’s political party and begun seizing its leaders’ assets, deepening tensions between the former allies turned rivals.
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