DR Congo Attorney General demands death penalty for ex-president for treason. He is suspected of rebel ties

The military prosecutor general of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, General Likuliya Lucien Rene, said on August 22 that he is demanding the death penalty for the countryʼs former president, Joseph Kabila, who is being tried in absentia for treason, war crimes, murder, and rape.

The Associated Press writes about this.

Kabila, who led the country from 2001 to 2019, has been on trial since July. Kabilaʼs presidential immunity was lifted in May of this year. Kabilaʼs supporters say the trial is politically motivated.

The Congolese government says Kabila has supported the M23 rebels, who are also supported by Rwanda. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has accused him of supporting the rebels and plotting an uprising. Kabila denies this.

The military prosecutor general, in addition to the death penalty, requested 20 years in prison for abetting war crimes and 15 years for conspiracy. The general did not detail these charges or explain what they pertain to.

The AP clarifies that Kabila is being tried for war crimes related to his ties to the M23 group, not for crimes committed while in office. A date for the announcement of the verdict has not yet been set.

Reuters notes that since late 2023, Kabila has been mostly abroad, mostly in South Africa, and was last seen in public in eastern Congo. The AP writes that this is the rebel-controlled city of Goma.

What preceded

Fighting between government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels escalated in late January 2025. Within weeks, the rebels had launched their largest offensive since 2003 and captured Goma and Bukavu, key cities in the east of the country. The DRC government estimates that more than two thousand people have been killed. The UN says 900 people have been killed, including more than 20 peacekeepers. International humanitarian organizations are warning of the risk of epidemics as the region faces a shortage of water and food, and the bodies of those killed have been left lying on the streets.

The UN has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, a charge the country denies. But it has had a history of conflict with Congo, dating back to the 1994 genocide. The M23 movement, made up mostly of ethnic Tutsis, says it is defending the interests of the Tutsi and the Kinyarwanda-speaking minority, Rwanda’s official language. They have complained of threats from Hutu militants. Rwanda has denied allegations by Congo, the UN and Western powers that thousands of its soldiers are fighting on the side of the M23.

But on June 28 of this year, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace agreement in Washington.