Two Congolese soldiers were sentenced to death Friday for “cowardice” and “fleeing the enemy,” two days after a similar sentence was handed down to 25 soldiers in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to an AFP journalist.
The trials are taking place as M23 rebels, which Kinshasha accuses Rwanda of backing, last week seized new terrain on the northern front of the conflict that has been ongoing for two and a half years in the North Kivu province. Kigali denies backing the M23 rebels.
Since the end of 2021, rebels have conquered vast swathes of territory in the province, nearly completely encircling the provincial capital of Goma.
The hearings have a “deterrent and educational” character, Captain Melissa Kahambu Muhasa, representing the public prosecutor, told AFP.
They aim to put off soldiers from abandoning their posts on the front lines, she said.
Public hearings were staged Thursday by the Butembo garrison military court in the town of Lubero, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) away from the city.
Some 30 soldiers including at least three captains were tried for “cowardice”, “fleeing the enemy”, “dissipation of war munitions”, and “violating orders”, murder, theft, looting or extortion.
The court on Friday delivered two death sentences, to a second-class soldier and a corporal.
It will review the cases of the other defendants on Saturday.
The defence condemned the sentencing, announcing its intention to appeal, as it had on Wednesday when 25 soldiers received death sentences at a trial in the village of Alimbongo.
In early May, eight soldiers in Goma were also sentenced to death for “fleeing the enemy”.
Last March, the Congolese government lifted the moratorium on the death penalty which had been in force since 2003 in the country.
The measure in particular targeted soldiers accused of treason, at a time when the east of the country is in the grip of an armed rebellion.
