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DR Congo death sentences rocket, report warns
A campaign group and Congolese NGOs warn death sentences in the DR Congo surged after the 2024 end of a moratorium, with over 480 issued in 2024 and 344 in 2025. The report describes overcrowded prisons, limited legal aid, and fair-trial concerns, while noting that no executions have been officially confirmed yet.
Why It Matters
The sharp rise in death sentences raises human rights concerns and suggests potential political influence over justice in a country scarred by conflict and weak judicial independence.
Timeline
9 Events
Report presented in Kinshasa
April 21, 2026
The report by Together Against the Death Penalty and Congolese NGOs was presented in Kinshasa. It states at least 950 death-row detainees, notes that no executions have been officially confirmed yet, and criticizes the prevalence of summary trials, limited legal aid, and inconsistent respect for fair trial rights; it also describes overcrowded prisons and dire conditions.
Investigative mission continues into 2025
2025
The investigative mission continued into 2025 as it gathered material for the report.
Death sentences in 2025
2025
In 2025, courts handed down 344 death sentences.
Moratorium ends (March 2024)
March 2024
In March 2024, the DRC ended the de facto moratorium on executions; death sentences were no longer automatically commuted to life imprisonment in prison.
Investigative mission conducts 11 months of fact-finding (2024)
2024
A mission comprising lawyers, civil society actors and Congolese parliamentarians conducted 11 months of fact-finding in 2024, visiting around 19 penitentiary establishments among the country’s 148.
Death sentences rise in 2024
2024
Courts handed down more than 480 death sentences in 2024.
Death sentences in 2023
2023
The report records 122 death sentences in 2023.
Death row population noted in 2019
2019
The investigation notes there were just over 500 people on death row in detention in Congo in 2019, the last year of the prior survey.
De facto moratorium on executions begins (January 2003)
January 2003
A de facto moratorium on carrying out the death penalty had been in place since January 2003, during which death sentences were typically commuted to life imprisonment.