Opposition leader convicted of forgery

Embattled DRC opposition leader Moise Katumbi was sentenced on Wednesday to three years' imprisonment and a $1m fine over a real estate dispute. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Katumbi is the wealthy owner of the leading football club Tout-Puissant Mazembe. He left the country on 20 May, a day after the state announced he would be tried for endangering state security. A report on the Daily Mail site notes that he flew to South Africa, ostensibly for medical treatment, and then settled in London. He was seen as the leading challenger to President Joseph Kabila in elections due to be held this year, but the sentence effectively makes him ineligible to stand. A three-judge tribunal in Lubumbashi found that he forged and presented false documents in the acquisition of a property.

Full Daily Mail report