GOMA - Prosecutors on Friday urged a military court in the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo to sentence to death 11 soldiers accused of "cowardice" and "fleeing the enemy", a lawyer said.

It was the first such call for capital punishment since the authorities decided on March 13 to resume executions with a rebellion seizing swathes of land around the North Kivu provincial capital Goma.

Alexis Olenga, lawyer for Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Paluku Dunia — one of five officers facing the charges — said the trial had been adjourned till April 5 when the case for the defence would be heard.

Olenga said the soldiers were based at Lushangi-Cafe, a federal army position close to the strategic town of Sake, 20 kilometres (12 miles) down the road from Goma.

"They never fled from the enemy nor abandoned their position -- on the contrary," he said.

If found guilty the 11 men could be the first to be executed since a 2003 moratorium on carrying out death sentences was lifted, ending the practice of commuting death sentences to life in jail.

The failure of the army and its auxiliaries to halt the advance of the mainly Tutsi-led M23 rebels has raised suspicion that the security forces have been infiltrated.

Several military personnel as well as members of parliament, senators and business leaders have been arrested and accused of "complicity with the enemy".

Human rights groups and the Catholic Church have called on the government to abolish capital punishment for any crime.