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War crimes court to hold landmark Congo trial
2009-01-13
THE HAGUE (AFP) - After months of delays, the International Criminal Court will hold its first-ever trial, of Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga, starting January 26, The Hague-based court confirmed Tuesday. Lubanga will go on trial for war crimes for allegedly enlisting child soldiers into his militia in the gold-rich Ituri region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The trial was initially set to take place on June 23 last year but was suspended when judges ruled that prosecutors had wrongly withheld evidence that was potentially favourable to Lubanga's defence. Prosecutors had refused to release the documents, many of which were provided by the United Nations, because the international body had requested strict confidentiality. The court ruled in November that the reasons for halting the trial no longer existed as the trial chamber had been able to fully examine the documents. The ICC is the first permanent world court set up to judge war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It started work in 2002. Lubanga is charged with three counts of war crimes for using child soldiers in the armed wing of his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) between September 2002 and August 2003. Humanitarian groups say inter-ethnic fighting and violence involving militias in Ituri -- centred on control over one of the most lucrative gold-mining territories in the world -- has claimed some 60,000 lives going back to 1999 and created tens of thousands of refugees.
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