A military prosecutor in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday asked a high court in Kinshasa to sentence former president Joseph Kabila to death. Kabila, who led the country from 2001 to 2018, is being tried in absentia for alleged complicity with the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel movement. Prosecutor General Lucien René Likulia told the court that Kabila should be convicted of war crimes, treason and organising an insurrection, as well as conspiracy. The prosecution also requested prison terms of up to 20 years on related counts. Kabila left the DRC more than two years ago; his whereabouts are unknown. The case stems from renewed fighting in eastern Congo, where M23 captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu earlier this year. Likulia argued that Kabila sought to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi with M23’s help and assumed a political role in the group’s umbrella organisation, the Alliance Fleuve Congo, in 2023. Although the DRC reinstated capital punishment in 2024 after a two-decade moratorium, no executions have yet taken place. The court has not indicated when it will rule. Kabila has made no public response to the charges.