Former DRC president Joseph Kabila. (Flickr)
Kinshasa’s High Military Court has postponed the verdict in the trial in absentia of former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila to allow civil party lawyers to present new evidence.
Kabila, who has been living in exile since late 2023, primarily in South Africa, faces charges including treason, complicity with the armed group M23, crimes against humanity and massive corruption during his 18-year presidency. The DRC military auditor general has requested the court to sentence Kabila to death.
Three new witnesses will present evidence to the high court, said Richard Bondo, a lawyer mandated by the government for the civil party.
Bondo said these witnesses are expected to “trace the individuals and bank accounts through which the financing of the M23 by the accused Kabila transits, as well as the reality of the fact that a foreigner — the prosecution claims that Joseph Kabila is Rwandan — led the DRC for 18 years”.
On 2 September, Kabila publicly responded to the death penalty request against him, in an address via YouTube, vehemently rejecting the accusations as “false and politically motivated, orchestrated by a leadership desperate to escape its own responsibilities”.
“This trial has nothing to do with justice. It is an instrument of oppression to remove a major political actor from the national scene,” the former president said.
In 2023, Kabila criticised President Félix Tshisekedi’s handling of the DRC’s security crisis and the use of UN-sanctioned militia groups by Kinshasa under the banner of Wazalendo, a rebel coalition, in its fight against M23.
Amid reports that Kabila had returned to the DRC in April via M23-controlled Goma in North Kivu, the government banned his People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy party, stripped him of immunity from prosecution, seized his assets and filed charges against him.
Despite his recent absence from the immediate political landscape, Kabila’s enduring influence on DRC politics is undeniable.