A military court in Kinshasa on Thursday handed down the death penalty to former electoral commission boss Corneille Nangaa and more than two dozen other members of the rebel group, Alliance Fleuve Congo or Congo River Alliance (AFC).
The Congolese court adopted a rarely used weapon to tame a group associated with the M23 rebels, who were declared a terrorist organisation.
The Court handed Nangaa and 25 others the death penalty for war crimes, treason and participation in an insurrection movement.
Leaders of the M23, Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa and their spokesmen Willy Ngoma and Lawrence Kanyuka, are in the same boat.
The majority were sentenced in absentia. They have five days to appeal the decision.
The court heard that Nangaa and 20 of his associates, including his wife and brother, led an insurrection or directly participated in criminal activities.
Only six of the accused were in custody. The others remain at large, with some living abroad or at the warfront.
This week, President Felix Tshisekedi seemed to target his predecessor Joseph Kabila, whom he inferred supports the AFC. Kinshasa warned Kabila may face the same fate.
The former president lives in South Africa from where he is studying for PhD.
The decision is meant to send a message to rebels in a country that has not hanged anyone in nearly three decades.
When Nangaa and his associates formed the Alliance in Nairobi last December and declared their intent to topple the government, Kinshasa reacted by proscribing the outfit, then warned it would hand the death penalty to anyone taking part in its activities.
Constant Mutamba, Minister of Justice said of the court decision: “This is a historic day for all the victims of the war in our country. It is an educational trial against all Congolese who decided to betray the country and serve foreign interests, in this case Rwanda.”
Kinshasa sees M23 as a danger and has also accused Rwanda of backing it, claims the UN, US and other Western countries have also made but are rejected by Kigali.
Nangaa, a former boss of the electoral commission (CENI) turned rebel and declared intent to topple the government he accuses of mistreating the Congolese.
But his manoeuvres abroad have also been limited. When he announced the alliance in Nairobi, he caused a diplomatic spat with Kinshasa demanding that Nairobi deport him. Kenya declined, citing freedom of speech. Relations between the two capitals have not been warm since.
Last month, Washington sanctioned Nangaa and his associates, including close family members, for fuelling violent conflict and civilian displacement in the Congo.
