Those sentenced were found guilty of criminal association, war crimes, and participation in an insurrectional movement.
A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sentenced to death eight soldiers and three civilians for selling arms to a violent rebel group.
At a public hearing on Friday, court president Colonel Kelly Dianga sentenced the eight soldiers, including three officers, after they were found guilty of criminal association, war crimes, and participation in an insurrectional movement.
The three civilians – two women and a man – were also sentenced to death for involvement in the affair, the court president said, while two civilians received 10-year jail terms. Another soldier and a civilian were acquitted for lack of evidence.
While the DRC has observed a de facto moratorium on capital punishment since 2003, courts continue to hand down death sentences, according to the United Nations.
The trial opened in the country’s conflict-torn Ituri province last month with the suspects facing charges of supplying rifles and ammunition to the notorious CODECO group, which has been blamed for a slew of ethnic massacres.
CODECO – the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo – is a political-religious sect that claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group.
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