Eight DR Congo soldiers sentenced to death over desertion

Congolese Army soldiers accused of desertion and cowardice when fighting M23 rebels react while sitting in the dock during a trial at the North Kivu military court in Goma, on May 03, 2024. [AFP]

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-torn east on Friday handed a death sentence to eight soldiers, including five officers, for desertion and cowardice when fighting M23 rebels.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty against 11 soldiers on trial in the same case, but the Goma court acquitted three of them, ruling that the charges against those soldiers were "not established".