Reparations Center for Victims of War Crimes

The defense team for Thomas Lubanga at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has claimed that a witness testified under a false name.  The witness, who testified as Dieudonné Tonyfwa Urochi, and is participating in the case as both a witness for the prosecution and as a victim seeking reparations before the court.  The testimony, report by the Open Society Institute’s blog on the trial here, goes to the credibility of the prosecution’s case.

In attempting to call the prosecution’s witness, the defense offered the testimony of a witness who stated that he is the father of Dieudonné Tonyfwa Urochi who was not a soldier in the Union of Congolese Patriots, (UPC) and is not the person who testified before the court. The defense witness was cross-examined by the counsel for the victim, as well as by the office of the prosecutor.

The counsel for Dieudonné Tonyfwa Urochi showed the witness a picture of the person who testified under that name and the witness insisted that was not his son.  Much of the testimony was continued in close session.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is the first person to be brought to trial in the ICC, which is located in The Hague, The Netherlands.  Lubanga was brought before the court in 2007, the trial commenced in January 2009, the defense case began in January 2010.  Lubanga was the leader of the UPC in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is on trial for the war crime of recruiting and conscripting child soldiers.