DRC military court sentences 22 soldiers to death for ‘fleeing the enemy’ – Firstpost

July 8, 2024

Objective image.

A military court in the unstable east of the Democratic Republic of Congo sentenced 22 soldiers to death on Monday for “fleeing from the enemy” during fighting with M23 rebels, a lawyer told AFP.

In one case in North Kivu province, 16 soldiers were sentenced to death, and in another case six more. Just a few days earlier, a similar sentence had been passed against 25 soldiers.

The latest rulings came after M23 rebels – whose support Kinshasha says Rwanda is backing – gained new ground last week on the northern front of the two-and-a-half-year-old conflict in North Kivu province.

In one case, a military court in North Kivu sentenced 16 people to death.

On Saturday, the public prosecutor’s office demanded that 22 of the defendants in this case be sentenced to death.

But on Monday the court instead imposed ten-year prison sentences on three defendants and acquitted three others.

In a separate case heard and convicted in North Kivu on Monday, six of the seven defendants were sentenced to death and one person was acquitted, lawyer Jules Muvweko told AFP.

The lawyer said he intends to appeal the verdict.

Last week, a court sentenced 25 soldiers to death during a one-day trial, partly for “fleeing from the enemy,” lawyers said.

A total of 31 defendants, including 27 soldiers and four of their civilian wives, appeared before the military court of the Butembo garrison in North Kivu near the front line.

The other defendants, including the four women, were acquitted due to lack of evidence, Muvweko said.

Since the end of last week, the M23 (March 23 Movement) has captured several towns on the northern front of the conflict.

Among their achievements is the strategically important city of Kanyabayonga, which is considered the gateway to the major trading centers of Butembo and Beni.

In addition, in recent years the M23 has conquered vast areas and almost completely surrounded Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, killing dozens of people and displacing hundreds of thousands more refugees.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2.8 million people are already displaced in North Kivu.