A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sentenced former president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia on charges of treason and a multitude of other severe crimes. Lieutenant General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi, who presided over the military tribunal in Kinshasa, announced the verdict on Tuesday, convicting Kabila of crimes including treason, crimes against humanity, murder, sexual assault, torture, insurrection, and conspiracy. The judgment also found him guilty of complicity with the M23 anti-government armed group.

Joseph Kabila, 54, who was not present nor represented at the trial, served as president of the DRC from 2001 to 2019, assuming power after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. He left the country in 2023 but caused significant disquiet in Kinshasa when he briefly reappeared in May in Goma, an area in the volatile eastern DRC controlled by the M23 rebel group. During his visit, he notably met with local religious leaders in the presence of M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka, further fueling accusations of his alleged support for the rebels.

The trial, which began in absentia in July, followed the lifting of Kabila's parliamentary immunity as a senator for life at the end of May. Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia had vehemently demanded the death penalty for Kabila, accusing him of plotting to overthrow President Felix Tshisekedi. Further charges included intentional homicide, rape, and torture linked to the M23, with Likulia asserting that Kabila, in coordination with Rwanda, sought to execute a coup against Tshisekedi, potentially with the assistance of M23 leader Corneille Nangaa. Kabila’s political party has vehemently slammed the proceedings as a “political trial,” while Kabila himself had previously denounced the case, calling the courts “an instrument of oppression” and branding Tshisekedi’s government a “dictatorship,” vowing its end.

The M23, described as a Rwanda-backed rebel group, has seized large swathes of territory in the resource-rich eastern DRC, contributing significantly to the region's long-standing instability. While Rwanda denies providing military backing to the M23, UN experts have indicated its army played a “critical” role in the group’s offensive. Despite peace agreements—including a declaration of principle for a permanent ceasefire with the M23 signed in Qatar in July and a peace agreement between Congolese and Rwandan governments in Washington in June—violence persists on the ground. NGOs continue to report abuses against civilians, such as summary executions, gang rapes, and kidnappings, with a United Nations investigation in early September finding that all parties to the conflict could have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The military court handed down the death sentence “without admitting mitigating circumstances to the death penalty” after a nearly five-hour hearing. Although the DRC lifted a moratorium on the death penalty last year, it has not carried out an execution since. Observers suggest the death sentence aims to prevent Kabila from uniting opposition forces within the country. However, despite the capital sentence, Kabila’s arrest by authorities currently appears unlikely given his unknown whereabouts. An appeal against the High Military Court’s verdict is still possible before the Court of Cassation, though only on grounds of procedural irregularities, not to review the case merits. The presence of numerous armed groups and militias in the eastern DRC continues to fuel a climate of near-permanent insecurity, overshadowing the legal proceedings against the former president.