Global court ready for first trial of Congo suspect
Source: Reuters
(Adds defence comment, paragraphs 6, 7, 11; reaction) By Emma Thomasson THE HAGUE, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court ruled on Monday there was enough evidence against a Congolese militia leader to launch the new court's first trial. The decision to confirm charges and pave the way for a trial against Thomas Lubanga, accused of recruiting child soldiers, is a major landmark for the ICC, set up as the first permanent global war crimes court in 2002 and now backed by 104 nations. "Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is criminally responsible ... for war crimes consisting of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 years and causing them to participate actively in hostilities," Judge Claude Jorda told the court. Democratic Republic of Congo -- rich in gold, diamonds and timber -- was the battleground for rebels, local factions, tribes and several neighbouring countries in a 1998-2003 war in which 4 million people died, mainly from hunger and disease. Prosecutors say Lubanga, the founder and leader of a militia in the Ituri district, trained children as young as 10 to kill, made them kill and let them be killed from 2002 to 2003. The 46-year-old has denied the charges. Defence lawyer Jean Flamme said Lubanga tried to stop the use of child soldiers. "He wanted peace. He wanted to have conditions against the exploitation of the riches of Ituri," he told a news conference. Lubanga is the only suspect to be delivered so far to the court that issued its first arrest warrants in 2005 for leaders of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who have led a 20-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also plans to charge suspects soon for atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, which the U.N. Security Council asked him to investigate in 2005. CHILDREN TRAINED TO KILL The United States has fiercely opposed the ICC, fearing it would be used for politically motivated prosecutions of its soldiers and citizens, but its hostility to the court is waning. Wearing a lime-green embroidered African robe, Lubanga took notes in court. His lawyer said Lubanga was unhappy about his isolation, with only former Liberian President Charles Taylor for company. Taylor is being tried in The Hague by the U.N.-backed court for Sierra Leone but housed in the same jail. Lubanga, leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an ethnic militia now registered as a political party, is accused of using children to kill members of the Lendu ethnic group. Ethnic violence in the Ituri region between the Hema and Lendu and clashes between militia groups vying for control of mines and taxation have killed 60,000 people since 1999. Up to 30,000 children were associated with Congo's armed groups at the height of the war. The United Nations estimates there are as many as 300,000 child soldiers worldwide. Human rights groups wanted the charges against Lubanga expanded to include crimes such as killings, rape and torture. "The prosecution of child recruitment is very important but it needs to be put into context," said Mariana Goetz from Redress, an international organisation for victims' rights. A spokesman for new Congolese Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga said he was pleased Lubanga would face trial at the ICC. "No one is above the law," he said. "We simply ask that all that have done the same face the same fate." N'Sii Luanda, president of the Kinshasa-based Committee of Human Rights Observers, agreed: "There are others who should be on the list of defendants. We hope that during the trial they will add more. We hope they can widen the investigation." Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said a second investigation into another Ituri group was already under way, with more arrest warrants seen soon and a third case to be opened later in 2007. The ICC is separate from the International Court of Justice, the highest legal authority of the United Nations known as the World Court which is also based in The Hague and which was set up in 1946 to resolve disputes between states. (With additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Kinshasa)
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
