Joseph Kabila

DRC: MILITARY PROSECUTOR SEEKS DEATH PENALTY AGAINST FORMER PRESIDENT KABILA

September 1, 2025:

A military prosecutor on August 21, 2025 demanded the death penalty for DR Congo's former president Joseph Kabila who is on trial in absentia on treason charges. Kabila's party called the proceedings "a political trial." General Lucien René Likulia called on judges to condemn Kabila to death for war crimes, treason and organising an insurrection. The former president, 53, went on trial in his absence in July for his alleged support for Rwanda-backed M23 militants.
Kabila, who has been outside the DRC for two years, is accused of plotting to overthrow President Felix Tshisekedi and charges including homicide, torture and rape linked to the M23 group. The violence committed by the M23 in the east of the country had caused "immense prejudice" to the country, for which Kabila had criminal responsibility, Likulia argued.
Kabila, in coordination with Rwanda, had been trying to carry out a coup against Tshisekedi, said Likulia. "The accused planned to overthrow by armed force the constitutional regime in place," he argued, notably with the help of Corneille Nangaa. Nangaa was the president of the Congolese electoral commission during the 2018 presidential election won by Tshisekedi. He subsequently went on the run and in December 203 announced the creation of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a political-military movement of rebel groups including the M23. The charge sheet, seen by AFP, describes Kabila as "one of the initiators" of the AFC.
Ferdinand Kambere, deputy general secretary of Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), denounced the prosecution. "It's a political trial, the regime is trying to hide its diplomatic and military failures," he told AFP.
The prosecution demands amounted to the persecution of an opposition figure, he argued, adding that current conditions "do not guarantee a fair trial". Kabila has already denounced the trial, calling the courts "an instrument of oppression". The indictment also accuses Kabila of responsibility for atrocities committed by M23 in North and South Kivu provinces in the mineral-rich east.
It lists the "forcible occupation of the city of Goma", captured by M23 fighters in January before they agreed a ceasefire with the government in July. Kabila went to Goma in May, meeting local religious leaders in the presence of M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka.