Questions were raised this week about Thomas Lubanga’s control over the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia, following testimony that as the group’s president, his role was largely political, not military. Lubanga is on trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of conscripting and using children to fight in the Ituri region of the…
Thomas Lubanga, the accused leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), was portrayed in video clips on Friday as seeking peace between ethnic groups in the Ituri region. “We must work together,” Lubanga stated in one video. “We must not tolerate that people continue to massacre other people on our territory of Ituri.” Although…
Video interviews with commanders of Thomas Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) suggest that Lubanga did not want peace in the Ituri region. The videos, reportedly filmed in March 2003 and presented to the court on Thursday, reveal splits within the UPC’s hierarchy. In one video, the former UPC Minister of Defense Chef Kawa Pangamandro-widely…
Prosecutors relied heavily this week on video evidence that appeared to show children in military uniforms with accused militia leader Thomas Lubanga. “I saw them,” an unnamed witness said of the children in the videos. The witness was present at the filming of most of the video clips shown at the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
The defense cross-examined an unnamed witness on Thursday about a video clip depicting a large group of children singing for defendant Thomas Lubanga. “Is this song a military song?” asked Jean-Marie Biju-Duval, one of Lubanga’s lawyers. “Yes,” responded the unnamed witness, who was testifying for the fourth consecutive day. The witness was present when the…
In an unedited video interview shown in court on Wednesday, defendant Thomas Lubanga denied using child soldiers to fight in his militia. In the video, Lubanga is shown speaking with an unidentified British journalist. Lubanga alleges that it was the Ugandan army who “armed some children” in various militia groups in the Ituri region, not…
The prosecution in the case of Thomas Lubanga presented several videos to the court on Tuesday, many of which contained images of what appeared to be small children in military uniform. One particular scene showed a close-up of a large bug crawling on someone’s shoulder. When the camera zoomed out, the person was revealed to…
A video shown in court on Monday depicted defendant Thomas Lubanga visiting a military training camp and delivering a speech to a large group of soldiers and recruits. “The youngest [recruits] were about nine years old,” an unnamed witness told the court, speaking in French with his face and voice digitally distorted. The witness said…
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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