Congolese court gives presidential candidate 7 years in jail for insulting president

​​​​​​​By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - A Congolese court sentenced presidential candidate Jean-Marc Kabund to seven years in prison Wednesday on 12 charges, including spreading false rumors and insulting the president, according to his lawyer.

“The Court of Cassation sentenced Kabund to seven years for all the offenses,” Kadi Diko told Top Congo Radio. “He was handed four months each for the first nine offenses and 16 months each for the last three.”

Kabund, the former vice president of the National Assembly, was President Felix Tshisekedi’s ally before he fell out to launch his party last year ahead of presidential elections scheduled for December.

Kabund’s political party, Alliance for Change, criticized the verdict as politically motivated.

“Congolese justice has been trampled underfoot. Kabund is a victim of his opposition views,” Belly Mutono, the party’s General Secretary told Anadolu. “This is not normal. We denounce this feudal attitude.”

The prosecution had requested a three-year sentence.

The conviction potentially renders Kabund ineligible to run in the presidential election as the decision of the Court of Cassation is final.

Kabund, who was not in court during the judgment, has been held in Kinshasa's main prison since his arrest in August 2022.

He was accused of insulting parliament, the government, spreading false rumors and insulting the head of state when he described Tshisekedi as a “danger at the top of the state.”

Kabund defended his remarks, maintaining that with “insecurity in the east he was asking voters to do everything possible not to vote for Tshisekedi in the next elections because I consider that the country is in danger with him at the head.”

He also claimed there were serious salary disparities in government with some earning $30,000 per month while others earned less than $100, which he described as "unacceptable."

Congo will hold presidential and parliamentary elections Dec. 20 in which Tshisekedi is expected to seek reelection.