For the third day of cross-examination, defense witness Bede Djokaba Lambi Longa persisted in denying nearly all suggestions by the prosecution that Thomas Lubanga or the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) had a military role in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before September 2002. He continued his denial in the face of contradictory documents…
Prosecutor Olivia Struyven cross-examined militia leader Bede Djokaba Lambi Longa, who has been testifying for four days in the trial of Thomas Lubanga. Mr. Lubanga is charged with recruiting, conscripting, and using child soldiers in the Ituri Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2002 and 2003. Ms. Struyven’s line of questioning was…
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…
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…
An International Criminal Court agent forged a letter in which officials of a Congolese militia group purportedly threatened to kill a witness for agreeing to testify against Thomas Lubanga, ICC judges heard today. An unnamed witness, testifying in Mr. Lubanga’s defense, said an agent acting on behalf of ICC prosecutors and referred to in court…
Judges in the Thomas Lubanga trial today heard how agents of the International Criminal Court (ICC) allegedly paid a Congolese barber who had never been a soldier to lie to the court’s investigators that he was a former child soldier. The agents – or intermediaries – arranged a series of meetings with the man and ICC…
The Thomas Lubanga defense this week called two witnesses, but the highlight of the trial was the string of complaints made by the defense lawyers against the prosecution, as well as court reporters and translators. Specifically, the defense protested that despite various interventions by judges, prosecutors were still failing to honor their disclosure obligations. Additionally, Mr. Lubanga’s…
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) today cross-examined a defense witness in the Thomas Lubanga trial about three photographs which showed alleged former leaders of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), the group Lubanga is said to have led. The prosecution’s Olivia Struyven showed the photographs to the unnamed witness, and asked him to…
A protected witness testified at the International Criminal Court (ICC) entirely in closed session on Thursday. While his role was not disclosed, he spoke very briefly about the Ituri conflict in open court on Wednesday before the proceedings adjourned. “When I set up my activities in [Ituri] in 1998 … there was latent conflict there,…
A former soldier in Thomas Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) told the court on Friday that he was arrested and held prisoner at the militia’s headquarters in the city of Bunia. “We were locked into the rooms and the guard [was] there to make sure we could not get away,” said the witness, who…
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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