A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday sentenced ex-president Joseph Kabila to death in absentia for “treason”.

Kabila, 54, who was not present at the trial in the capital nor represented, was found guilty of complicity with the M23 anti-government armed group, which has seized swathes of the resource-rich Congolese east with Rwandan help.

He left the vast central African country in 2023 and briefly reappeared in Goma in the volatile east in May, causing disquiet in Kinshasa.

Observers say the death sentence aims to remove the possibility he could unite the opposition within the country, despite his exact current whereabouts being unknown.

The DRC, ravaged by violence for more than three decades, lifted a moratorium on the death penalty last year but no judicial executions have been carried out since.

Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia had demanded the death penalty for Kabila, whose party slammed the proceedings as “a political trial”.

Likulia accused the ex-leader of plotting to overthrow President Felix Tshisekedi and further charges against him included homicide, torture and rape linked to M23.

Likulia said Kabila, in coordination with Rwanda, sought to spring a coup against Tshisekedi, notably with the help of Corneille Nangaa, who presided the electoral commission during the 2018 presidential election, which Tshisekedi won.

Kabila ruled the country between 2001 and 2019, taking power following the assassination of his father Laurent-Desire Kabila.

On his visit to Goma in May, Kabila met local religious leaders in the presence of M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka.

Tshisekedi has branded Kabila the brains behind the armed group, while Kabila has dubbed Tshisekedi’s government a “dictatorship.”

Rwanda denies providing military backing to the M23 but UN experts say its army played a “critical” role in the group’s offensive.

Agence France-Presse

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