A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday handed death sentences to all 26 defendants accused of belonging to the M23 rebel group after a high-profile trial.
The defendants -- 21 of whom are on the run -- were found guilty of war crimes, participation in an insurrection and treason by the court in the capital Kinshasa.
The Tutsi-led M23, backed by Rwanda, has seized huge swathes of territory in eastern DRC since late 2021.
It is among dozens of rebel groups active in the DRC's restive east, many the legacy of a regional conflict that erupted in the 1990s after the fall of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
In March, the Congolese government defied criticism from human rights organisations and lifted a moratorium on the death penalty that had been in place since 2003, aiming to target military personnel accused of treason.
The prosecutor in the trial, which began on July 24, had called for death sentences against 25 of the defendants and a 20-year jail term against the other defendant.
Defence lawyers for the five accused who were present in court pleaded for their acquittal.
The most prominent of the defendants was Corneille Nangaa, among those on the run and a former president of the Congolese electoral commission.
In December, he announced in the Kenyan capital Nairobi the creation of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), a political-military movement of rebel groups including the M23.
The court ordered his property be confiscated for the benefit of the Congolese state.
Other major M23 figures on trial included its president Bertrand Bisimwa, military chief Sultani Makenga and spokesmen Willy Ngoma and Lawrence Kanyuka.
Other people on the list of defendants included members of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) who joined the AFC.
The PPRD is the party of former president Joseph Kabila, who was in power until 2019.
The five accused who were present for the trial have five days to appeal the sentence, the president of the court said.