A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sentenced former president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia after finding him guilty of treason and complicity with the M23 rebel group.

The ruling was delivered on Tuesday in Kinshasa, though the 54-year-old former leader was neither present nor represented at the trial.

Kabila was accused of working with the M23 armed movement, which has seized vast territories in eastern DRC with alleged backing from Rwanda.

Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia said Kabila collaborated with Rwanda to plot the overthrow of President Felix Tshisekedi, listing additional charges against him, including homicide, torture, and rape linked to M23’s activities.

Likulia told the court that Kabila had coordinated efforts to spring a coup alongside Corneille Nangaa, a former electoral commission chief during the disputed 2018 election that brought Tshisekedi to power.

“The death penalty is the only just punishment for the crimes committed,” Likulia declared.

Naijaonpoint understands that Kabila’s political party rejected the proceedings, describing them as a “political trial” designed to silence the ex-president and weaken opposition forces.

Observers say the death sentence may be aimed at preventing Kabila from rallying opposition groups inside the country, especially as his exact whereabouts remain unclear.

He left the DRC in 2023 and resurfaced briefly in Goma in May, where he met religious leaders in the presence of M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka, a visit that caused unease in Kinshasa.

President Tshisekedi has repeatedly branded Kabila the brains behind M23’s resurgence, accusing him of fuelling instability in the east. Kabila, in turn, has dismissed Tshisekedi’s administration as a dictatorship.

While Rwanda denies providing military support to M23, UN experts have said the Rwandan army played a critical role in the group’s offensive.

Kabila came to power in 2001 following the assassination of his father, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, and ruled the country until 2019. His nearly two-decade rule was marked by civil unrest, fragile peace deals, and corruption allegations.

The DRC, plagued by over three decades of violence, lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in 2023.

However, no judicial executions have taken place since the moratorium ended.