By Palang Paul
Former Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila has been sentenced to death in absentia after being found guilty of treason, war crimes, and collaboration with the rebel group M23.
The verdict, delivered by a military court in Kinshasa, accuses the former head of state of conspiring with foreign powers and armed groups to destabilize the country during and after his 18-year rule, which ended in 2019.
Kabila, who succeeded his father Laurent-Désiré Kabila following his assassination in 2001, was accused of aiding M23 rebels and permitting atrocities that claimed thousands of lives in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. The court said his actions amounted to “high treason against the Congolese people.”
The ruling also targeted several of his former senior allies and military commanders, many of whom were handed heavy sentences ranging from life imprisonment to death.
The dramatic judgment has sent shockwaves across the DRC and the wider region, raising concerns of renewed political instability. Human rights groups have warned that the trial was highly politicized and could deepen divisions in the fragile nation.
Kabila, who has been living quietly on his private farm outside Kinshasa, did not appear in court and has yet to respond publicly to the sentence. His supporters have dismissed the ruling as a “political witch-hunt” aimed at eliminating his lingering influence in Congolese politics.
The DRC government has not clarified whether it will seek international assistance to arrest the former president, who still enjoys strong support in parts of the country.
This is the first time in modern Congolese history that a former president has been handed such a sentence, a move analysts say could set a dangerous precedent for political retribution in Africa’s volatile Great Lakes region.
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