On September 30, 2025, a military court in Kinshasa handed down a seismic verdict that reverberated across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and beyond: former President Joseph Kabila was sentenced to death in absentia for a litany of grave offenses, including treason, crimes against humanity, murder, sexual assault, torture, and insurrection. The sentence, delivered by Lieutenant General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi, marks a dramatic chapter in the DRC’s tumultuous recent history and has ignited fierce debate both inside and outside the country.
Kabila, who governed the DRC for nearly two decades after succeeding his assassinated father Laurent-Désiré Kabila in 2001, has been living in self-imposed exile since 2023, mostly in South Africa. His precise whereabouts remain unknown, and he was neither present at the trial nor represented by legal counsel. Despite his absence, the court pressed forward, citing Article 7 of the Military Penal Code to impose what it called "the most severe sentence," the death penalty, according to Reuters and France 24.
The case against Kabila centers on accusations that he supported the M23, a rebel group widely believed to be backed by neighboring Rwanda. The M23 has wreaked havoc across the mineral-rich eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, seizing major cities such as Goma and Bukavu earlier this year, setting up their own administrations, and displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians. The United Nations and several Western governments have presented what they describe as overwhelming evidence of Rwandan military involvement, though Kigali continues to deny these allegations, insisting its forces act only in self-defense against threats linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
President Félix Tshisekedi, who took office following the contentious 2018 election, has accused Kabila of being the mastermind behind the M23 insurgency. According to BBC News, Tshisekedi’s government moved to strip Kabila of his legal immunity in May 2025, a decision the former president lambasted as "dictatorial." The Senate’s vote paved the way for prosecution, and the subsequent trial unfolded without the participation of Kabila or his legal team.
Military prosecutor General Lucien Rene Likulia was uncompromising, demanding the death penalty and painting Kabila as the "undisputed leader of M23." The court echoed this sentiment, stating that Kabila had "led meetings and inspected training centers" for the rebel group, as reported by The New York Times. The charges—ranging from murder and sexual assault to conspiracy and supporting terrorism—were as sweeping as they were severe. In addition to the death sentence, Kabila was ordered to pay between $33 billion and $50 billion in damages, with substantial sums earmarked for the Congolese state and the war-torn provinces of North and South Kivu.
Kabila has vigorously denied all allegations, dismissing the proceedings as "arbitrary" and declaring that the courts were being used as "an instrument of oppression." His political party, the Common Front for Congo, condemned the trial as "illegal from start to finish" and a "tragicomedy." These strong words have only deepened the polarization surrounding the verdict. Yinka Adegoke, Africa editor at Semafor, told Al Jazeera that Kabila has long been "a thorn in the side" of President Tshisekedi, maintaining his own support base and power network even after leaving office. "The problem with this sentencing now is that it could make Kabila supporters feel that this [trial] is all politically-motivated," Adegoke observed.
Indeed, the political undertones of the case are impossible to ignore. After the alliance between Kabila and Tshisekedi quickly unraveled, the former president went into exile, but not before publicly criticizing the government and making a highly publicized visit to Goma in May 2025—then under M23 control. Kabila’s appearance there, ostensibly to mediate peace, was met with suspicion and anger in Kinshasa. The government accused him of collaborating with Rwanda and the rebels, while Kabila insisted he was trying to find a solution to the deadly conflict.
The timing of the verdict is also significant. The DRC lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in 2024, though no judicial executions have taken place since. The sentence against Kabila comes after years of escalating violence in the east, where the M23’s lightning offensive in early 2025 shocked the nation and the world. The fighting has killed thousands and forced many more to flee their homes. Despite a U.S.-brokered peace agreement signed between the Congolese and Rwandan governments in Washington, DC, in June, and a subsequent declaration of principle with M23 for a permanent ceasefire in Qatar in July, violence has continued to simmer. According to a September 2025 report by the United Nations, all parties to the conflict—including the government, M23, and other armed groups—could have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court’s decision to sentence Kabila in absentia has raised more questions than answers. With his current location unknown and the likelihood of arrest slim, the verdict appears to be as much a political statement as a legal one. Observers suggest the move is intended to neutralize Kabila as a potential rallying point for the opposition, but it could just as easily stoke further unrest. The DRC, a nation of over 90 million people with vast mineral wealth and a history of coups and conflict, now faces the prospect of deeper divisions as supporters and critics of Kabila dig in their heels.
International reaction has been cautious. While the UN and Western governments have repeatedly condemned the violence and called for accountability, there is little appetite for direct intervention. Rwanda, for its part, has continued to deny any direct military support for M23, even as UN experts insist that its army played a "critical" role in the group’s recent advances. The DRC government, meanwhile, has moved to suspend Kabila’s political party and seize the assets of its leaders, further raising the stakes in an already volatile political environment.
The broader Congolese public, weary from decades of instability, watches with a mixture of hope and skepticism. Some see the verdict as long-overdue justice for the suffering inflicted in the east, while others view it as a dangerous escalation in a bitter political feud. With an appeal possible only on procedural grounds before the Court of Cassation—and not on the merits of the case—the legal avenues for Kabila are exceedingly narrow.
As the dust settles on this historic verdict, the DRC stands at a crossroads. The fate of Joseph Kabila may be sealed in the courtroom, but the country’s deeper challenges—reconciliation, peace, and justice—remain unresolved and as urgent as ever.