Reparations Center for Victims of War Crimes

The trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will re-open soon.  The trial was stopped for a few months while the trial court considered a defense motion to dismiss for the prosecution’s failure to provide disclosure as required.

Part of the issue has been the appearance of two witnesses for the defense who testified that two witnesses for the prosecution had stolen their identity and falsely claimed to have been child soldiers. This led to a fight about the identity of the prosecution investigator, or intermediary in the parlance of the court, who found those witnesses and a lengthy delay while the prosecution argued it could not disclose the intermediary’s identity.  The court has since issued a number of decisions clarifying the disclosure obligations of the prosecutor and whether the delay in meeting those obligations prejudiced the defense.

Lubanga was the first defendant in ICC custody, arrested in 2007, his trial began in January 2009.  The defense began presenting their case in January, 2010.  The case was halted over the summer because the trial court ruled that Lubanga could not get a fair trial because of the disclosure issues.  A timeline of the trial, through the halt in 2010, is available here.

The appeals chamber reversed the trial court’s finding that Lubanga could not get a fair trial, finding that the trial chamber had not explored sanctions sufficiently.  The trial restarted then stalled on a motion to dismiss from the defense. A resumption date for the trial has not been announced.

Lubanga is accused of recruiting, conscripting, and using child soldier as war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The fairness of the trial is an issue raised again and again in this case.  Failure to provide a full and fair process to the defense will make the court less credible.