Congo’s military auditor wants former President Kabila to be executed

Former President Joseph Kabila is being tried in absentia for war crimes including killing, rape, and torture, and Congo’s military auditor general publicly informed a military court on Friday that he is seeking the death penalty for him.

Kabila resigned from office in 2018 after nearly 20 years in office. Since late 2023, he has traveled overseas, primarily to South Africa. His last public sighting was in the unstable east of Congo, in areas controlled by rebels.

Due to his alleged involvement in the slaughter of people and other crimes against humanity, he is wanted in the Congo.

General Likulia Lucien Rene, the military’s auditor general, informed the high court that he was requesting the death punishment for a number of offenses, including torture, rape, deportation, and murder.

In April, Kabila declared he was going back to Congo to support efforts to bring peace to the war-torn east. Later that month, the Congolese government acted quickly to take his assets and ban his political party.

The senate of Congo decided to remove Kabila’s protection from prosecution in May.

In late May, Kabila visited and spoke with religious leaders in the rebel-held east.

When M23 rebels supported by Rwanda took control of large areas of mineral-rich eastern Congo in January, the long-running conflict in the east erupted this year.

“It is an act of relentlessness and persecution against a member of the opposition,” Kabila’s political party secretary, Ferdinand Kambere, confirmed to Reuters on Friday.