KINSHASA — A high military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has convicted former president Joseph Kabila in absentia of treason, war crimes and conspiracy tied to alleged collaboration with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebellion, ordering his immediate arrest and imposing tens of billions of dollars in damages.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the court also directed Kabila to pay $29 billion to the Congolese state, plus $2 billion each to North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, which have borne the brunt of years of violence in the country’s east. The judgment follows a months-long trial that began after lawmakers lifted Kabila’s immunity in May; prosecutors had earlier sought the death penalty. Kabila’s whereabouts are unknown. He has denied the allegations and previously condemned the proceedings as politically motivated.
Authorities accuse the former head of state, who ruled from 2001 to 2019, of conspiring with M23, a powerful armed group that seized key towns in eastern Congo earlier this year amid a broader escalation with neighboring Rwanda. Kinshasa and U.N. experts say Rwanda supports M23—an accusation Kigali denies—while the insurgency’s advance has displaced hundreds of thousands.
The verdict intensifies Congo’s fraught domestic politics as well as regional tensions. It also comes after the government rolled back a two-decade moratorium on executions in 2024, reviving capital punishment in cases of treason and other serious offenses—raising the stakes of the military court’s decision, even as Kabila was tried in absentia.
Kabila, once one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, left office in 2019 after a contentious election and has since maintained a low public profile. He briefly returned to the eastern city of Goma earlier this year, according to state media reports cited in court filings. Defense lawyers have argued that the case is intended to sideline a prominent opposition figure; the government says the prosecution reflects accountability for acts that aided an armed insurrection.
It was not immediately clear what legal avenues remain for appeal in a case tried before Congo’s highest military jurisdiction, nor how authorities would enforce an arrest order if Kabila remains outside the country. International and regional observers will be watching closely for any fallout—both in the courtroom and on the battlefield—in a conflict that has already drawn in multiple armed actors and strained Congo’s relations with its neighbors.
