Overview

• The Supreme Military Court convicted the former president in absentia of high treason, war crimes, glorifying crimes, conspiracy, and plotting a government overthrow.
• Judges ordered his immediate arrest, ruled there is no appeal, and said the sentence can be carried out only if he returns to the country.
• The court imposed $33 billion in damages payable to the state and to the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
• Prosecutors said he was the intellectual author behind crimes by the Alliance Fleuve Congo and the M23 militia, which this year seized large areas in the east and installed administrations, with M23 reported to have Rwandan support.
• Kabila, who has lived in exile including in South Africa, denies the allegations, and his suspended PPRD party calls the prosecution political after his May visit to Goma to meet M23 leaders was cited to justify the charges.