Apr
18

Lubanga Prosecutor Offers Evidence of the Age of Child Soldiers

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.

Feb
21

Lubanga Trial Takes Two Week Break

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.

Feb
16

Lubanga Trial Suspended over Transcription Errors

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.

Feb
13

Lubanga Defense Described as “Witnesses Lied, Lubanga Not Guilty”

The Open Society Institute offered its summary of the Lubanga defense on its Lubangatrial.org website, boiling down the arguments to “witnesses lied, Lubanga not guilty.” The website’s summary, and unofficial transcript of the opening argument of Catherine Mabille, defense counsel for Thomas Lubanga is available here.  Catherine Mabille is a Paris-based lawyer and argued in French, this appears to be a transcription of the translation, though is not the court’s official transcript.

In the time that the defense has been offering witnesses, since this opening statement they have had one witness testify that he was paid $200 to lie and state that he had been a child soldier in Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) army, a rebel force in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  When asked if he had been paid to lie on behalf of the UPC, the witness claimed he asked for money from the UPC, but they would not give it to him.

Another witness testified that his son lied about being a child soldier in the UPC. A third witness testified over three days that he children were not conscripted into the UPC, but also testified that some joined willingly, which would seem to harm at least part of Lubanga’s  case.

The testimony that parties working on behalf of the ICC brought a question to the Office of the Prosecutor from Judge Adrian Fulford, who demanded to know if the prosecutor was going to produce the people who were alleged to have paid for false testimony.  Fulford said “Are we going to hear from them?  If so, when?”  The judge apparently suggested that the court might have a difficult time rejecting the testimony of witness bribery without hearing from the people who are alleged to have bribed witnesses.  The OSI’s summary is available here.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is the first defendant to face trial at the International Criminal Court for war crimes.  Lubanga is accused of conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers in his UPC army.  Lubanga was brought to the court in May 2007, his trial began in January of 2009.  The defense began presenting its case in January 2010, after a few victims testified on their own behalf seeking reparations.   The court is intended to be a permanent place to prosecute charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The court has a unique feature, never seen in international law before, allowing the victims of war crimes to seek reparations from a fund supported by the state’s parties who fund the court, charitable donations and the fines and fees paid by those convicted.  Reparations may include financial support, psychological and physical rehabilitation services.  The reparations process also includes the appointment of counsel funded by the court to represent the victims in pursuing their claims.

Feb
11

Lubanga Defense Witness Testifies for Third Day at the ICC

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.

Feb
06

Lubanga Defense Witness Claims Son Lied To ICC

A witness called by the defense testified that his son, who appeared as a prosecution witness lied to the court when he testified about being a child soldier in Thomas Lubanga’s army.  Lubanga is the first person to face trial at the International Criminal Court.  Lubanga, from the Democratic Republic of Congo is accused of using child soldier in his rebel army.  Lubanga was brought to the court in 2007, his trial began in January 2009, in January of 2010, the defense began presenting its case.  Lubanga was the head of the Union of Conoglese Patriots (UPC in French).

A detailed account of the day’s testimony is available here. The prosecutor cross examined the man arguing that because he did not report the allegedly false testimony to the police or ICC officials that he may not be telling the truth about his son’s testimony.

There is one other case in trial at the International Criminal Court, also from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  There is one defendant before the court from Sudan, and one from the Central African Republic.  The five accused from Uganda have not been brought before the court.  There are three accused from the Sudan with open arrest warrants who have not yet been brought to the court.  There is one accused from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who is still at large.

Situations before the ICC can be referred by the state parties who have signed on to the treaty establishing the court or by the United Nations Security Council.  The court is intended to be permanent and to investigate and prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide that are not prosecuted under any national authority.

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