Editing Laurent-Désiré Kabila (section)

==Assassination and trial==
{{Main|Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila}}
{{See also|Murder in Kinshasa}}
[[File:Joseph kabila.jpg|thumb|right|Laurent-Désiré Kabila's son and successor, [[Joseph Kabila]]]]
On 16 January 2001, Kabila was shot in his office at the [[Palais de Marbre]] and subsequently transported to Zimbabwe for medical treatment.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jeffries |first1=Stuart |title=Revealed: how Africa's dictator died at the hands of his boy soldiers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/feb/11/theobserver |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=30 December 2018 |date=11 February 2001 |archive-date=9 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121209051620/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/feb/11/theobserver |url-status=live }}</ref> The DRC's authorities managed to keep power, despite Kabila's assassination. The exact circumstances are still contested. Kabila reportedly died on the spot, according to DRC's then-health minister [[Leonard Mashako Mamba]], who was in the next door office when Kabila was shot and arrived immediately after the assassination. The government claimed that Kabila was still alive, however, and he was flown to a hospital in [[Zimbabwe]] after he was shot so that DRC authorities could organize the succession.<ref name="John C. Fredriksen 2003 pp 239" />

The Congolese government announced that he had died of his wounds on 18 January.<ref>{{cite book|title=Official SADC Trade, Industry, and Investment Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FmfvAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Southern African Marketing Company|isbn=978-0-620-36351-8|page=24|access-date=17 May 2021|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517082220/https://books.google.com/books?id=FmfvAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> One week later, his body was returned to Congo for a [[state funeral]] and his son, [[Joseph Kabila]], became president ten days later.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Onishi|first=Norimitsu|date=January 27, 2001|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/27/world/glimpse-of-new-president-as-joseph-kabila-takes-oath-in-congo.html|title=Glimpse of New President as Joseph Kabila Takes Oath in Congo|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-05-22|url-access=subscription|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=27 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227190410/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/27/world/glimpse-of-new-president-as-joseph-kabila-takes-oath-in-congo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> By doing so, DRC officials were accomplishing the "verbal testimony" of the deceased President. Then Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo and Kabila's aide-de-camp [[Eddy Kapend]] reported that Kabila had told them that his son Joseph, then number two of the army, should take over, if he were to die in office.

The investigation into Kabila's assassination led to 135 people, including four children, being tried before a special [[military tribunal]]. The alleged ringleader, Colonel Eddy Kapend (one of Kabila's cousins), and 25 others were sentenced to death in January 2003, but not executed. Of the remaining defendants, 64 were incarcerated, with sentences from six months to life, and 45 were exonerated. Some individuals were also accused of being involved in a plot to overthrow his son. Among them was Kabila's special advisor [[Emmanuel Dungia]], former ambassador to South Africa. Many people believe the trial was flawed and the convicted defendants innocent; doubts are summarized in an ''[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]]'' investigative film, ''[[Murder in Kinshasa]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/2011/10/20111027131838717148.html|title=Murder in Kinshasa| website=Aljazeera.com|access-date=May 25, 2016|archive-date=14 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314123026/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/2011/10/20111027131838717148.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.france24.com/fr/20100125-focus-rdc-justice-assassinat-republique-democratique-du-congo-kabila |title=Zone d'ombre autour d'un assassinat |language=fr |last1=Zajtman |first1=Arnaud |last2=Rabaud |first2=Marlène | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705184514/http://www.france24.com/fr/20100125-focus-rdc-justice-assassinat-republique-democratique-du-congo-kabila |archive-date=July 5, 2012 }}</ref>

In January 2021, DRC's President [[Félix Tshisekedi]] pardoned all those convicted in the murder of Laurent-Désiré Kabila in 2001. Colonel Eddy Kapend and his co-defendants, who have been incarcerated for 15 years, were released.<ref>{{cite news |title=DRC: Tshisekedi pardons those convicted in the killing of Laurent-Désiré Kabila |url=https://www.theafricareport.com/57205/drc-tshisekedi-pardons-those-convicted-in-killing-of-laurent-desire-kabila/ |work=The Africa Report |first=Stanis Bujakera | last = Tshiamala |date=5 January 2021 |access-date=8 February 2022 |archive-date=8 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208223255/https://www.theafricareport.com/57205/drc-tshisekedi-pardons-those-convicted-in-killing-of-laurent-desire-kabila/ |url-status=live }}</ref>