Lubanga Defense Again Raises Concerns About Translation Errors

By | Published May 4, 2010

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo’s defense team again raised concerns about the accuracy of the translations and transcripts of the proceedings.  Defense counsel Catherine Mabile reported to the chamber that the defense had found “extremely important discrepancies” in the testimony of some witnesses.  It is unclear what the discrepancies were.  The Open Society Institute blogged the report here. The trial was previously stopped because of reported errors in translation and transcription which was blogged here, and by the Open Society Institute blog here.

The official languages of the International Criminal Court are English and French and all proceedings are simultaneously translated and transcribed in both languages.  Both transcripts are intended to be authoritative records of the trial proceedings.  Witnesses often testify in a third language so the possibility for errors and for entirely different translations of the testimony effects the quality of the record.

Thomas Lubanga is the first accused to come to trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC).  Lubanga was brought to the court in 2007, his trial commenced in January 2009.  The defense began to present its case in January 2010.  Lubanga was the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC in French) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is accused of the war crime of recruiting, conscripting and using child soldiers.  The defense has contested the evidence that soldiers were younger than 15 at the time they joined the UPC and have asserted that some of the witnesses were not in fact in the UPC.

The ICC was created by the Treaty of Rome, and became effective when 60 nations ratified that treaty in July 2002.  The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes occurring after that date within the countries that have ratified the treaty or by nationals of countries that have ratified the treaty. The ICC can assert jurisdiction over cases when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.  The ICC has investigations open in the DRC, Uganda, the Central African Republic, and has opened an investigation into the post-election violence in Kenya.  In addition to those nations which have signed the treaty, the ICC has an active investigation and indictments against three persons regarding Darfur, Sudan.  The Darfur situation was referred to the court by the Security Council of the United Nations and is different from the other cases because Sudan is not a signatory to the Treaty of Rome.  The ICC is seated in The Hague, The Netherlands.

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ICC Appeals Chamber Rejects Prosecution Appeal

By | Published April 30, 2010

The office of the prosecutor appealed the decision of the pre-trial chamber declining to confirm charges again Bahar Idriss Abu Garda.  The trial chamber decision, originally blogged here,  found that the office of the prosecutor had not produced enough evidence to continue the case for trial.   The standard of proof at the confirmation of charges hearing is “substantial grounds.” Abu Garda was charged with three war crimes, violence to life, directing attacks against peacekeeping forces, and pillaging.

The court issues indictments when the prosecutor establishes “reasonable grounds” for the charges.  If the pre-trial chamber finds “substantial grounds,” the case is continued for trial where the case must be established beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Abu Garda case is unique in a number of ways.  Abu Garda is the first defendant from the situation in Darfur to appear before the court, and the first accused in any situation to appear voluntarily before the court.  He is now the first to have his case dismissed at the confirmation of charges hearing and the first to have a dismissal affirmed by the appeals chamber.

The Hague Justice Portal blog on the appeals chamber decision is available here. The  appeals chamber decision was issued on April 23, 2010, the pre-trial chamber declined to confirm the charges on February 8, 2010.  The other three accused from the Darfur situation,  Omar Al Bashir, the President of Sudan, the country’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, and the leader of the Janjaweed militia all remain at large.  The Government of Sudan has not cooperated with the court and is not a signatory to the treaty.  The situation in Darfur was referred to the court by the U.N. Security Council.

The International Criminal Court sits in The Hague and is intended to be a permanent court to decide charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide that cannot or will not be prosecuted by national authorities.

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Lubanga Prosecutor Offers Evidence of the Age of Child Soldiers

By | Published April 18, 2010

The Office of the Prosecutor in the Thomas Lubanga Case has offered additional evidence that the witnesses who testified in the prosecution case were child soldiers.  The defense had offered evidence that at least some of the witnesses were not young enough to be considered child soldiers under international law, and that others were not in fact soldiers.  The submission, reported here by the Open Society Institute, was made during a recess in the trial.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was the first person brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face indictment.  He arrived in The Hague in 2007, and the trial commenced in January 2009.  In January 2010, the defense began to present its case.  The case recessed in March, for further investigation by the defense and is scheduled to resume later this week.

Lubanga is charged with crimes in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Lubanga is alleged to have used child soldiers and to have conscripted child soldiers in his rebel army.  Child soldiers are defined by the Rome Statute, the founding document of the ICC, as those under 15 years of age.  The medical evidence the prosecutor is offering claims the witnesses may have been as young as 10 or 11 at the time they were drafted into Lubanga’s army,  the Union of Congolese Patriots, (UPC).

The prosecution is asking the court for leave to offer certificates as to the age of the contested witnesses.  These certificates are based on the testimony of prosecution witnesses who testified in May 2009.  It is being offered during the defense case, instead of as rebuttal, though it is not clear why they did not seek to admit the evidence in May, or why they would not wait and offer it as rebuttal evidence after the close of the defense case.

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Prosecution Asks to Declare its Witness as Hostile in Katanga and Chui Trial

By | Published February 26, 2010

At the trial of Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngdolo Chui for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the prosecution asked that its witness be declared hostile.  The prosecutor reportedly noticed “inconsistencies” and asked the court to declare the witness as hostile.  The court determined that the inconsistencies could be resolved without declaring the witness as hostile and allowed questioning to continue.  A detailed report on the testimony is available here.

Katanga and Chui are the second case to go to trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.  They are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  They are accused of attacking civilian targets, rape, pillaging, using child soldiers and sexual slavery among other charges.  Katanga and Chui had led rebel armies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but had signed peace agreements with the government of the DRC and had joined the Congolese army at the time they were arrested and brought to The Hague.  Their trial began on November 9, 2009.

The situation in DRC was referred to the ICC by the Congolese government.

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Lubanga Trial Takes Two Week Break

By | Published February 21, 2010

The International Criminal Court trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was suspended this week for a two week trip for the defense to the Democratic Republic of Congo for important “research,” presumably this means further investigation into the previous allegations that prosecution witnesses lied  or were paid to lie about being child soldiers.  The trial was earlier suspended on Tuesday because of noted differences in the official English and French transcripts.  The reporting from the Open Society Institute, available here, does not make clear whether or not the court had arrived at a resolution of the transcription problem.

The court also ruled that the Lubanga defense could share information on its investigation with the defense team of Germain Katanga, whose trial, along with co-defendant Matthieu Ngdolo Chui was the second trial to start at the ICC. The trial opened on November 26, 2009, and my summary of the case and its opening is available here. Lubanga is the first person to face a trial at the ICC.  Lubanga, Katanga, and Chui were rebel leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and are charged with war crimes, and crimes against humanity.  There are four witnesses who are scheduled to testify for the prosecution in both cases, and the defenses wished to share the information they had collected in their investigations.  Judge Adrian Fulford ruled there was nothing to prevent such sharing between the teams.

Lubanga is accused of using child soldiers in his Union of Congolese Patriots, and Katanga and Chui are charged with  using child soldiers, attacking civilian targets, destruction of property, rape and sexual slavery as war crimes, they are also alleged to have committed crimes against humanity, including murder within the court’s jurisdiction, rape and sexual slavery. Another accused from the DRC, Bosco Ntaganda is still at large.

In the cases of the Sudan, one accused, Bahar Idriss Abu Garda voluntarily appeared at the court, and the charges against him were not confirmed.  A summary of that action is available here.  Three more accused from Sudan remain at large.  In the Uganda case there are four accused, all of whom are still at large.  In the case involving the Central African Republic, there is one accused, Jean-Pierre Gemba, whose trial is expected to begin April 27, 2010.

The International Criminal Court sits in The Hague, Netherlands and is intended to be a permanent court to hear cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide when those cases are not resolved by national authorities.  Thomas Lubanga was the first person brought before the court, he was arrested in 2007, and his trial began in January 2009, the defense began presenting its case in January 2010.  There are also victims who have been given a limited right to participate in the case, and then to seek reparations if they can establish their right to do so.

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Lubanga Trial Suspended over Transcription Errors

By | Published February 16, 2010

The Thomas Lubanga Dyilo case at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has been suspended over questions about the transcripts.  The court operates simultaneously in French, English, and whatever language a witness is testifying in.  The court reporters maintain transcripts in English and French based on the translations offered by the interpreters, both the French and English transcripts are intended to be authoritative.

Today, however, the court stopped the proceedings because of differences between the two official transcripts.  The defense noted differences between the French and English transcripts and asked the court to determine which accurately reflected the testimony given.  Most of the testimony was given in closed session so there is no public record of the errors.  One of the problems noticed was that the French transcript  contained the names of two persons named by a witness while the English transcript had only one.

A description of the proceedings is available here.  Lubanga is the first person to face trial at the ICC, he is accused of using child soldiers in his Union of Congolese Patriots army in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Lubanga Defense Witness Testifies for Third Day at the ICC

By | Published February 11, 2010

Lubanga defense witness Claude Nyeki Django testified for the third day that Thomas Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) did not draft child soldiers.  The proceeding stopped for a time because Django broke down on the stand for a second time.  After meeting with a psychologist from the Victims and Witness Unit  (VWU) of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Django continued his testimony.  Curiously, Django said children voluntarily joined Lubanga’s army, which may not be a very good defense.  The public portions of Django’s testmony are recounted on Day One, Day Two and Day Three of his testimony.

Django’s testimony is essentially that he never served in the UPC, and was never in the armed forces at all, but was lured into a group who claimed that he had been a child soldier and he was portrayed as such by this group.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was the leader of the UPC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  He was brought before the court in 2007, and is the first person to face trial at the ICC.  Lubanga’s trial commenced in January of 2009 and the defense began presenting its case in January 2010.  Lubanga is accused of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers, which is a war crime.  This witnesses testimony appears directed at the idea of cosncripting child soldiers, though he appears to admit there were child soldiers present to his knowledge, which would appear bad for Lubanga on the charges of enlisting and using child soldiers.

The court sits as a three judge panel, who will have to determine at the close of the case if the Office of the Prosecutor has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.  If they make a finding of guilt the trial will then move on to a reparations phase where the victims who have been granted leave to participate in the case will have an opportunity to seek reparations from the victims fund and from any assets of Lubanga’s.  The ICC is permanent court seated in The Hague, Netherlands to hear accusations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, where the crimes are not likely or capable of being prosecuted by national authorities.

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Nicholas Kristof on War Crimes in The Congo

By | Published January 31, 2010

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times posted in his column today stories of the horrible war crimes being inflicted in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The column, available here, describes the rape of young girls, their being abducted to serve as sex slaves for the rebel armies, and the terror the civilians live in because of the ongoing civil war.

Thomas Lubanga of the DRC is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court for using child soldiers in the conflict.  Charges of rape, abduction and child soldiers were considered, but the court determined the attempt to amend the case was too late and the prosecution was limited to the facts alleged at the confirmation of charges hearing.  Recently the trial resumed with the defense case, and some victims who are seeking reparations testified in support of their case.

The Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngdolo Chui case from the DRC, the second ICC case to go to trial also arose from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Katanga and Chui are charged with directing attacks on civilian targets.

The girls attacked in these cases may be eligible to seek reparations from the warlords convicted at the ICC, and funded by the Association of State’s Parties.  Persons seeking reparations must make application to the court and have a right to legal counsel  at court expense to pursue their claims.

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Second ICC trial resumes

By | Published January 26, 2010

The trial of Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngdolo Chui resumed today at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.  This is the second ICC case to proceed to trial.  Katanga and Chui are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  They are charged specifically with an attack on the Bagoro village.

War crimes include attacks by armed combatants on civilians, targeting civilians rather than other combatants is a focus of current war crimes prosecutions.  The Katanga and Chui trial was delayed in December when one of the three judges was injured in a car accident.  The court’s press release on the resumption is available here.

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Third Lubanga Victim Testifies Seeking Reparations

By | Published January 22, 2010

A third child soldier victim of Thomas Lubanga testified about the treatment of young soldiers at the direction of Lubanga.  The victim testified about his abduction and conscription into the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC in French).  A detailed report on the day of testimony is available here.

The testimony is part of the court’s unique process allowing the victims to participate in the case as it goes on, and to seek reparations.  The reparations will be funded by the victims fund, persons convicted may be directed to contribute by paying fines as well as serving sentences, but the fund will also be supported the state’s parties.

Persons who have a potential claim before the court can seek victim’s status and appointed counsel to represent their interests.  A person who applies may choose their own lawyer at the time of the application, or they will be assigned to the Office of the Public Counsel for Victims, which will handle the case within their pool of cases.

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