DRC has had a moratorium on death penalty executions since 2003, though death sentences continued to be handed down.Traitors could be hanged, and so could those who show cowardice in the fight.
It was during that meeting that Mutombo disclosed why the government was lifting the moratorium on executions. She said it was due to the instability in the eastern DRC that executions would go ahead because in some cases, locals were working with insurgents. "These acts of treachery or espionage have exacted a heavy price from both the population and the republic given the immensity of the damage suffered," she said.M23 claims to be working to protect civilians in the east.
According to the resolution, for civilians, the execution would happen in situations such as association with criminals, treason, participation in armed bands, espionage, participation in an insurrectional movement and genocide.