Former Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila arrives for a photo session in Goma, North Kivu, May 31, 2025. ARLETTE BASHIZI / REUTERS
A military prosecutor on Friday 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.
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A ‘political trial’
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.
Enduring influence
Tshisekedi, his successor as president, has branded Kabila the brains behind the armed group, which has seized swathes of the resource-rich Congolese east with Rwanda’s help. Rwanda denies providing military backing to the M23 but UN experts say its army played a “critical” role in the group’s offensive.
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The AFC and M23’s executive secretary Benjamin Mbonimpa distanced the movement from Kabila in comments to journalists in Goma in July. Kabila ruled the country between 2001 and 2009, taking power following the assassination of his father Laurent Kabila. Although he left the DRC in 2023, the former leader still has influence over Congolese political life. He has called Tshisekedi’s government a “dictatorship”. The DRC lifted a moratorium on the death penalty last year but no judicial executions have been carried out since.
Read more DRC and M23 rebels sign ceasefire deal
For more than three decades, the eastern DRC has been ravaged by conflict between various armed groups. The unrest has intensified since the M23’s resurgence in 2021.
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