Congo's military auditor general formally told a military court on Friday that he is seeking the death penalty for former President Joseph Kabila, who is being tried in absentia for war crimes including homicide, rape and torture.

Kabila spent almost two decades in power before stepping down in 2018. He has been abroad since late 2023, mostly in South Africa. He was last seen in public in rebel-held territory in Congo's volatile east.

He is wanted in Congo for alleged crimes against humanity including a role in the massacre of civilians.

The military's auditor general, General Likulia Lucien Rene, told the high court that he was seeking the death penalty for homicide, rape, deportation and torture, among other crimes.

Kabila announced that he was returning to Congo to help push for peace in the war-ravaged east in April. Congo's government swiftly moved to ban his political party later that month, and seize his assets.

In May, Congo's senate voted to lift Kabila's immunity from prosecution.

Kabila made an appearance in the rebel-held east in late May, meeting with religious leaders.

Congo's long-running crisis in the east erupted this year when Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized swaths of mineral-rich eastern territory in January.

"It is an act of relentlessness and persecution against a member of the opposition," Ferdinand Kambere, Kabila's political party secretary, told Reuters on Friday.