10.02.11 MEDIA ADVISORY – TRIAL OF DRC SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF MASS RAPE IN FIZI OPENS TOMORROW IN SPECIAL MOBILE GENDER COURT

The trial
will run from 10-20 February and will be conducted in a special mobile gender
court that has been set-up in the nearby town of Baraka – after an official
request from the President of the Military Court.

 

This is the
most high-profile case to be heard by the mobile gender courts – a project
coordinated by the American Bar Association (ABA) and funded by the Open Society
Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) in partnership with the Open Society
Justice Initiative (OSJI). The project has been running in eastern Congo since
October 2009 and has already resulted in 94 convictions for rape (see below for
additional background information).

 

The fact that
the President of the Military Court chose to hold this crucial trial in a mobile
gender court shows what an impact the mobile gender court project has already
had and how it is helping to bring a measure of justice to the eastern province
of South Kivu where soldiers and rebels have got away with mass rapes and sexual
violence for far too long. The mobile courts have started to encourage women –
particularly in remote areas – to come forward and seek justice, while spreading
the word that armed men can no longer act with total
impunity.

 

In addition
to the DRC government, ABA and the Open Society network, the current trial is
also dependent upon the efforts of a number of other organizations, including
MONUSCO (logistics), Danish Church Aid and its local partner Héritiers de la
Justice (local police fees and food/accommodation for victims), UNDP (food and
accommodation for judicial officers and guards) and Lawyers without Borders
(working with ABA to provide legal assistance to
victims).

 

#                      #                     
#

 

For more information, please
contact:

 

Charles Guy Makongo, DRC Country Director, American Bar Association Rule of Law
Initiative, Tel: +243 994767388 or +243 853912955; guymack@yahoo.com
 

 

Richard Lee,
Communications Manager, OSISA, +27 83 231 4192; RichardL@osisa.org