A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sentenced former president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia after convicting him of war crimes, treason, and crimes against humanity.
The ruling, announced late Monday in Kinshasa, has shocked many who once saw Kabila as a stabilising force in the country.
Lt Gen Joseph Mutombo Katalayi, who presided over the trial, declared that Kabila was guilty of murder, sexual assault, torture, and backing an armed insurgency.
“In applying article 7 of the military penal code, imposes a single sentence, namely the most severe one, which is the death penalty,” he said.
The charges are tied to Kabila’s alleged support of the M23 rebels, a group backed by Rwanda that continues to fight in eastern Congo.
Authorities accused him of sponsoring the insurgency, which has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes this year.
Kabila, who ruled from 2001 to 2019, has denied any wrongdoing and insists the judiciary has been politicized.
Neither he nor his lawyers were present during the proceedings.
His current whereabouts remain unclear, although he has mostly lived in South Africa since 2023.
In addition to the death sentence, Kabila has been ordered to pay $50 billion in damages to the Congolese state and victims of the violence.
The ruling comes amid escalating tensions in North and South Kivu, where M23 rebels control large swathes of territory.
Kabila first rose to power after the assassination of his father, Laurent Kabila, in 2001.
His near 20-year rule ended in 2019 after deadly protests pushed him out.
He later struck a power-sharing agreement with President Felix Tshisekedi, though their partnership quickly fell apart.
Earlier this year, Tshisekedi publicly accused Kabila of fuelling the rebel advance.
The verdict comes just months after a US-brokered peace agreement between Congo’s government and M23 rebels.
However, both sides accuse each other of breaking the accord and continue to reinforce their positions.
