Child soldiers in Thomas Lubanga’s militia were organized into a special kadogo unit and endured hunger and whippings, a witness told the International Criminal Court on Tuesday. The witness, a former soldier, said he fled fighting in Bunia, the main town in the Ituri region, along with two others he assumed to be child soldiers.…
Prosecutors in the trial of accused militia leader Thomas Lubanga turned to a historian this week to explain the origins of the ethnic conflicts that have plagued the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Author and historian Gerard Prunier provided the court with an overview of the ethnic tensions that erupted…
The violence in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo went beyond economics and ethnicity, historian Gerard Prunier told the court on Friday in the continuing trial of accused militia leader Thomas Lubanga. Responding to a question from Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito, Prunier said the conflict began as an economic one, but quickly…
Defense attorneys for Thomas Lubanga on Thursday questioned historian Gerard Prunier about the history of the Hema-Lendu conflict and its possible bearing on the actions of Lubanga and his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). Prunier, who holds a Ph.D. in African Studies from the University of Paris, published From Genocide to Continental War: The Congolese…
The structure and hierarchy of Thomas Lubanga’s political party, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), was described by a former member who testified today in Lubanga’s trial at the International Criminal Court. Speaking in Swahili with his voice distorted to protect his identity, the witness told the court that he joined the Lubanga’s UPC in…
Accused militia leader Thomas Lubanga looked on today as a former judge from the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo explained the financial schemes of Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) from 2003 to 2005. The witness identified himself as Jacque Kbaselli Nbemzeli, former president of the Tribunal de Grand Instance du Bunia.…
The prosecution continued to build its case against accused Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga this week by presenting witnesses who delivered dramatic and revealing insight into militia life. The prosecution’s eighth witness, whose identity was concealed, described how he became a soldier at the age of 10, after hearing gunshots and seeing people running on…
During several brief open court sessions on Friday, the defense for Thomas Lubanga attempted to discredit a witness who provided details of his time as a child soldier and guard in Lubanga’s militia. The witness confirmed earlier testimony that he was a guard at Lubanga’s residence, saying he replaced a guard who accompanied another commander…
While renegade leader Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) top the list of Ugandans indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), some suggest that the ICC needs to look more closely at Uganda’s earlier role in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Indeed, it is becoming increasingly possible that Ugandans could eventually appear…
A former child soldier in the militia of Thomas Lubanga described being beaten, whipped, and forced to stare at the sun as punishment for disobeying orders, he told the court on Thursday. As a guard in the militia of Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots, the witness said he followed his commander – referred to as…
Thomas Lubanga on trial at the International Criminal Court. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court. A former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lubanga is accused of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers. More
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