DRC: Death penalty requested for former president Joseph Kabila
On Friday, the prosecution requested the death penalty for former Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who is being tried in absentia by the Military High Court for war crimes, treason and organising an insurrectional movement.
General Lucien René Likulia, representing the prosecution, asked the judges to sentence Mr Kabila to death and 15 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy, accusing him of complicity with the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group responsible for atrocities in the east of the country.
According to the prosecution, the former head of state acted ‘in collusion with Rwanda’ in an attempted coup against President Félix Tshisekedi, who has been in power since 2019.
The trial, which opened at the end of July, is taking place in the absence of the former president, who has become an outspoken opponent of the current regime.
The east of the DRC, which has been plagued by conflict for three decades, has seen an upsurge in violence in recent months, with the M23 taking control of Goma and Bukavu.
A moratorium on the death penalty introduced in 2003 was lifted in 2024, but no execution has yet taken place.
Gilbert FOTSO
