DR Congo military court sentences 66 soldiers to death
The court in Walikale, North Kivu, tried 71 soldiers; four were acquitted and one was given 10 years.
At least 66 soldiers of the Democratic Republic of Congo's army have been sentenced to death for cowardice, mutiny and refusing to obey orders, according to local media reports cited by the BBC and Africanews.
A military court in Walikale, a town in North Kivu province in eastern DR Congo, tried 71 soldiers in all. Four were acquitted and one was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The BBC reported that the soldiers were arrested on 20 October in Walikale, where they were accused of abandoning their positions and fleeing during clashes with fighters of the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), a rebel coalition that includes the M23 group.
The army said the trial was intended to improve discipline among troops fighting armed groups in the east, where government forces have battled insurgencies for decades.
According to the BBC, citing figures compiled by the French broadcaster RFI, at least 507 soldiers have been convicted since the start of 2025, including 381 who received death sentences. Last month, 27 soldiers were sentenced to death on similar charges of cowardice after reportedly withdrawing from the frontline during clashes with rebels.
DR Congo lifted a 20-year moratorium on the death penalty in March 2024, saying the step was needed to remove "traitors" from the army. The government said capital punishment would also apply to people involved in armed groups, insurrection, treason and war crimes. Rights groups criticised the decision. The BBC reported that no formal executions have been carried out since the moratorium was lifted.
The government has repeatedly accused neighbouring Rwanda of backing the M23, an allegation Kigali and the rebels deny. Soldiers have complained of poor pay and inadequate equipment, and the army has faced persistent criticism over discipline in its ranks.
In October 2025, former president Joseph Kabila was sentenced to death in absentia on charges including war crimes and treason. He denied the accusations and did not appear in court to defend himself. He has since been named leader of the FRN.
How the reports differ
The BBC alone carried the detail of the proceedings: 71 defendants tried, four acquitted, one sentenced to 10 years, and 27 soldiers given death sentences last month. It was also the only report to give the RFI tally of 507 convictions since the start of 2025, 381 of them death sentences, and to note that no executions have been carried out since the moratorium was lifted. Africanews described the case in its headline as soldiers fleeing rebel fighting, listing desertion first among the offences, while DW and AllAfrica framed the trial around abandoned posts and refused direct orders. The Telegraph put "cowards" in quotation marks in its headline, a word the other outlets used without quotation marks or not at all.
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