The former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, was sentenced to death by a military court on Tuesday for treason and war crimes.

Kabila, who was sentenced in absentia, was found guilty of charges that included murder, sexual assault, torture and insurrection. 

Military court imposes death penalty 

"In applying Article 7 of the Military Penal Code, it imposes a single sentence, namely the most severe one, which is the death penalty," said Lieutenant-General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi, who presided over the tribunal in Kinshasa.

Kabila was also ordered to pay around pay $33 billion (€28 billion) in damages to the state and to the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.

The M23 militia captured large parts of these provinces this year and established its own administrations there.

Kabila was accused of supporting the M23 rebels backed by Rwanda. The current president of the DRC, Felix Tshisekedi, said that Kabila was the mastermind behind the armed group.

Kabila, who led DR Congo for 18 years, has denied the allegations and has dubbed Tshisekedi's government a "dictatorship."

Late in May, Kabila made a brief appearance in the rebel-held eastern Congo where he tried to mediate peace, a move that did not go down well with Kinshasa.

Kabila ruled the country between 2001 and 2019 and took power following the assassination of his father Laurent-Desire Kabila.

The former leader has spent much of his exile in South Africa although his current whereabouts are unclear.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko