Posts Tagged ‘UPC’


May 28, 2010

Lubanga Trial: Identities Of Child Soldiers Queried

By Wairagala Wakabi

The main highlight of the Thomas Lubanga trial this week was the presentation by the defense of several documents, which allegedly showed that at least seven prosecution witnesses who claimed to have been child soldiers lied about their identities. The documents included school reports and registers from the institutions which various prosecution witnesses claimed they…

May 27, 2010

Overview Of The Lubanga Case: What Witnesses Have Said And The Arguments Made By Prosecutors And The Defense

By Wairagala Wakabi

Thomas Lubanga is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The 49-year-old first appeared in court at The Hague on March 20, 2006, and faces the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers in armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during 2002 and 2003. Prosecutors…

May 25, 2010

Lubanga Defense: Documents Disprove Identities Of Child Soldiers

By Wairagala Wakabi

Thomas Lubanga’s defense has today presented to court various documents that it claimed showed that at least seven prosecution witnesses, who told court that they were former child soldiers, lied about their identities or the schools they attended.  The documents presented included several records from schools in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of Congo…

March 23, 2010

Lubanga Witness: I Lied That I Was A Soldier

By Wairagala Wakabi

A defense witness in the war crimes trial of former Congolese leader Thomas Lubanga said today that he lied to the country’s demobilization authorities that he had served as a solider. ‘Witness 23’ said he went on to take part in a demobilization exercise for former combatants. The unnamed witness, the eleventh called by the…

March 5, 2010

Lubanga Trial Adjourns As New Witness Discloses His UPC Links

By Wairagala Wakabi

The Thomas Lubanga trial today adjourned early after prosecutors said they were not ready to cross-examine a new defense witness about some aspects of his testimony. The witness had told the trial that he was a former soldier in the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC); prosecutors said the defense had withheld this fact from them.…

March 3, 2010

Former UPC Man Testifies In Lubanga Trial

By Wairagala Wakabi

A witness who said he fought with the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) today started giving evidence in the trial of Thomas Lubanga at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC alleges that Lubanga headed the UPC, a group that used child soldiers in inter-ethnic conflict during 2002 and 2003. The witness, the sixth called…

February 12, 2010

Defense Witnesses Claim ICC Agents Concocted Evidence

By Wairagala Wakabi

Two defense witnesses who testified in Thomas Lubanga’s war crimes trial this week accused intermediaries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) of concocting evidence with the aim of pinning the former Congolese militia leader. According to the witnesses, the intermediaries paraded before ICC officials many children who had never served in the military, and claimed…

January 27, 2010

Defense Case Opens, Lubanga Lawyers Claim Testimony Was Fabricated

By Wairagala Wakabi

Thomas Lubanga’s defense opened today at the International Criminal Court (ICC), with his lawyers declaring that they would produce evidence to show that agents of the Office of The Prosecutor helped to fabricate the testimony of several witnesses who were called by the prosecution. Catherine Mabille, Lubanga’s lead counsel, said they would produce 16 witnesses…

January 22, 2010

Victims Recall Cruel Treatment In UPC Camps

By Wairagala Wakabi

Former child soldiers in the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), the group which war crimes accused Thomas Lubanga is alleged to have led, this week recounted stories of torture, whippings and brutal punishments of boys and girls who served in the militia group. Two former child soldiers told the Lubanga trial at the International Criminal…

January 15, 2010

Lubanga Trial: Victims Recount UPC Brutality, Seek Reparations

By Wairagala Wakabi

The trial of Congolese war crimes accused Thomas Lubanga this week focused on the atrocities which fighters of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) meted out on civilians and child soldiers, and also saw one of the participating victims who gave evidence asking for reparations. According to the testimony of two participating victims, UPC militiamen…