Jean-Marc Kabund will therefore remain in Makala prison in Kinshasa. The Court of Cassation, which handed down its decision this Wednesday, September 13, sentenced the opponent to seven years in prison. Imprisoned since August 2022, Kabund was the target of 12 charges, including those of “contempt of boss of the State” and “spreading false boats”.
Heavy punishment
Kabund's defense calls for an “excessively heavy” sentence. “We know that this decision is eminently political, like everything else in the process”, believes Mr. Emmanuelli Kahaya, one of the opponent's lawyers, who specifies that the defense no longer has any appeal. On August 14, the Public Prosecutor's Office requests a three-year prison sentence.
This verdict was pronounced more than a year after the case began. A pillar of Félix Tshisekedi's power, Kabund fell from grace in January 2022. He moved into opposition following his he has After leaving the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and his dismissal from the position of first vice-president of the National Assembly, he gradually radicalized his speech before the Congolese authorities. On July 18, 2022, during a press conference for the launch of his new party, the Alliance for Change, Kabund delivered a violent diatribe against the head of state.
On this occasion, he specifically denounced the “clientelism and large-scale corruption” of power, accused Parliament of having “desecrated itself” and stated that “Félix Tshisekedi [était] is a danger For the state".
