Congolese soldiers sentenced to death for fleeing fighting against M23

Twenty-five soldiers have been sentenced to death by a military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo for fleeing fighting against M23 rebels and for theft, their lawyer and an army spokesman said on Thursday, July 4. East Africa reports.

The DRC army has been fighting the M23 rebels for more than two years. Rebels advanced into strategically important territory last week.

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On Tuesday, the army arrested 27 soldiers after they abandoned their positions in the villages of Keseghe and Matembe in the province. Army spokesman Reagan Mbuyi Kalonji said the fugitives were found stealing goods from shops in the nearby village of Alimbongo.

They were arrested along with four of their wives, who were staying in the village and received the looted goods, Kalonji said. A military tribunal was set up in Alimbongo on Wednesday to try them and the magistrate sentenced 25 of them to death for theft, fleeing before the enemy and violating orders, among other charges.

One soldier was sentenced to ten years in prison while the four wives and another soldier were acquitted.

All denied the charges, except one of the 25, who pleaded guilty.

Their lawyer, Jules Muvweko, said he would appeal the verdict.

As noted, the DRC military, long plagued by internal divisions, inadequate resources, poor logistics, and the country's endemic corruption, has become seriously dysfunctional in this crisis.

Eight officers were sentenced to death in May for cowardice and other crimes, exposing damaging disorder within the DRC armed forces that is hampering the fight against the M23, army officers told Reuters. The DRC lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in March, citing treason and espionage in recurring armed conflicts as the grounds.

The country introduced a moratorium on the death penalty in early 2000, but never abolished it.

READ ALSO : M23 occupies new strategic city in DRC (army)

The M23 rebels accuse the Congolese army (FARDC) of cooperating with negative militias such as the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned militia linked to the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda, which has been destabilizing eastern DR Congo for nearly 30 years.

The FDLR are accused of spreading an anti-Tutsi genocidal ideology in eastern DRC and of persecuting Congolese Tutsi communities.