Kinshasa, September 3rd, 2026 (CPA). – A life sentence of penal servitude has been sought on Thursday by the Military Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) against the former commander of the 3rd Defense Zone and his accomplices for treason, during a hearing at the High Court held in Kinshasa.
“On this basis, we request that the High Military Court find, have been established, as a matter of fact and law, that the offences of treason and of participation in an insurrectionary movement, with which the defendants Philemon Yav and Issa Shauri are charged, have been committed. Consequently, we request that they be sentenced, taking into account mitigating circumstances, to life imprisonment for treason and to 20 years’ principal penal servitude. “Pursuant to Article 7 of the Military Criminal Code, to impose only the single, most severe sentence, namely life imprisonment”, has requested Lieutenant-General Lucien-Rene Likulia, Head of the Military Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“To also order the two defendants to pay the costs of the proceedings, to be assessed by the registrar, and finally, to impose any other penalty that this high military court deems appropriate in the interests of justice,” he has added. In the grounds for his indictment, the public prosecutor at the military prosecutor’s office has make it clear that “in light of the evidence in the case file and the statements made in court by the witnesses, the defendant Yav, with the assistance of his co-defendant Shauri, had supplied the insurgents of the M23 terrorist movement, specifically the Twira Neo group, with weapons and ammunition of war. He has also maintained that “in doing so, the two defendants have acted in full knowledge of the nature and objective pursued by the recipient troops”.
The defense lawyers’ closing arguments are scheduled for September 10th. It should be noted that the defendant, Lieutenant General Yav, is standing trial alongside his co-defendant Shauri before the High Court in the second case. The first case, in which the defendant Yav was standing trial alongside several other FARDC officers for similar offences, has already been taken under advisement, and the verdict of the High Military Court is awaited so that these defendants may learn their fate. CPA/