Today, judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) heard the continuation of testimony from defense witness Bede Djokaba Lambi Longa. Mr. Longa, an official of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), described a reconciliation program the UPC initiated from September 2002 to March 6, 2003, under the auspices of its National Secretariat for Pacification and…
An investigator from the Office of The Prosecutor (OTP), who is expected to testify next week, has asked for the transcript of the testimony given in court this week by an intermediary who helped contact some of the former child soldiers who became prosecution witnesses in the Lubanga trial. At the same time, the defense team…
Dear readers – please find below a commentary written by Olivia Bueno at the International Refugee Rights Initiative in consultation with Congolese activists. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the International Refugee Rights Initiative or of the Open Society Justice Initiative. The October 8, 2010 decision…
To release or not to release Thomas Lubanga is the big question that International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals judges will tomorrow pronounce themselves on. In detention at the ICC since March of 2006, the 49-year-old former vegetables trader-turned-rebel leader two years ago had a similar expectation of getting freed. On the verge of the planned…
Dear readers – please find below a commentary written by Olivia Bueno at the International Refugee Rights Initiative in consultation with Congolese activists. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the International Refugee Rights Initiative or of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Last week, Congolese President Joseph…
A defense witness who was set to begin testifying for the third consecutive day today broke down for the second time, forcing court to delay the resumption of hearings. When Judge Adrian Fulford asked court officers to bring Claude Nyéki Django, the 20-year-old witness, into the courtroom, they reported back to the chambers without him.…
A former child soldier deflected questions during cross-examination today and accused Thomas Lubanga’s defense lawyers of trying to trap him. “What you’re doing is satisfying yourself with information provided to you by your client,” the witness told Marc Desalliers, one of Lubanga’s lawyers. “Perhaps the court will decide that [Lubanga] is innocent…. But what I…
Thomas Lubanga was the minister of defense and commander-in-chief of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), a witness said on Thursday. As UPC president, Lubanga appointed the group’s ministers and broadcasted their names on the local radio station, he said. Once the group took control of Bunia, Lubanga named himself the defense minister. “So, he…
The rapid rise of accused Congolese leader Thomas Lubanga within the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and his role in the group’s militia were revealed this week in his trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Lubanga started as a bean seller at a market in the Ituri regional center of Bunia in…
An attempt by a rich family in Bunia to drive ethnic Lendu from their land sparked the Ituri region’s bloody ethnic conflict, according to testimony on Wednesday. Continuing his testimony from the previous day, a former political leader in Ituri told the Lubanga trial that the Savo family, ethnic Hema who were financial backers of…
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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