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…
Defendant Thomas Lubanga visited military training camps to boost the morale of young recruits, a former child soldier told prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week. “I saw the president on two occasions,” the unnamed witness told the court. “The first time he came, he asked about our situation in general. The second…
Defense lawyers pressed a former child soldier today on details surrounding his kidnapping and enlistment into the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). Earlier this week, the witness told prosecutors that he was taken by soldiers on his way home from school and transported by truck to a military training camp in the Ituri town of…
A former child soldier told prosecutors on Thursday that he was beaten when he arrived at a military training camp allegedly run by Thomas Lubanga and other commanders in the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). “Can you describe how you were beaten?” asked prosecutor Nicole Samson. “No, I can’t,” the unnamed witness replied. “I might…
A witness in the Thomas Lubanga trial on Friday said children were rounded up from the streets of Bunia and conscripted into the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia. The children ranged from eight- to 15-years-old, he said. Bunia is the largest town in the Ituri region of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and…
A former officer in the militia of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) testified this week that child soldiers were among the bodyguards of accused leader Thomas Lubanga. Lubanga, the president of UPC, is on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 and…
Experts in the trial of accused Congolese leader Thomas Lubanga this week struggled to confirm the ages of child soldiers said to have been part of the Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC. The specialists in age determination testified at the International Criminal Court (ICC) that based on x-ray images, some may have been as young…
The defense lawyer for Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga told the court on Wednesday that she needs better access to her client. Catherine Mabille said defense team members are spending most of their lunch in discussions with Lubanga, and have less than an hour and a half in the evening with the accused, nearly all…
A clinical psychologist on Tuesday told the trial of Thomas Lubanga that former child soldiers suffer high levels of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Psychologist Elisabeth Schauer cited a study of 1,100 abductees in Uganda which found PTSD among 40 per cent of those who stayed in captivity for more than one month. Schauer, who…
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…
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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