11 07 12 HRW – ICC: Congolese Rebel Leader Gets 14 Years

“Lubanga’s 14-year sentence demonstrates that recruiting and
using child soldiers is a grave war crime that will be punished,” said Géraldine
Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human Rights
Watch. “The International Criminal Court is putting military commanders around
the world on notice that sending children into war could put them behind bars
for a good while.”

Lubanga
is the former president of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), a Congolese
rebel group implicated in numerous grave human rights abuses. He was convicted
by Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
on March 14 of recruiting, enlisting, and using child soldiers in Ituri district
in eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003. Human Rights Watch had urged the ICC Office
of the Prosecutor to bring a broader set of charges against Lubanga to reflect
the range of crimes committed by his troops in Ituri, including ethnic killings,
torture, pillage, and widespread rape.

In announcing the sentence against
Lubanga – the first sentence handed down by the ICC, Presiding Judge Adrian
Fulford stated that the recruitment and use of child soldiers are “undoubtedly
serious crimes that affect the international community as a whole.” He said that
the “vulnerability of children means that they need to be afforded particular
protection” from the risks associated with warfare. Fulford recalled expert
testimony during the trial about the psychological trauma for child soldiers who
have been exposed to violence, separated from their families, and deprived of an
education.

Judge Fulford said that the court considered a number of other
factors in reaching its sentence. These included “the nature of the unlawful
behavior and the means employed to execute it,” “the degree of participation and
intent” of the defendant, as well as his age, education, and personal
circumstances, and several aggravating and mitigating circumstances that had
been put forward by the parties. Under the Rome Statute, which created the ICC,
the judges have discretion to determine sentences.

The court did not
accept any of the aggravating factors put forward by the prosecution. It
declined to consider sexual violence against girl child soldiers under 15 as an
aggravating circumstance in the sentencing because the prosecution failed to
prove the prevalence of the crime and Lubanga’s responsibility for it. The court
noted in strong terms that the prosecution had not brought charges of sexual
violence against Lubanga.

As a mitigating circumstance in the sentence,
the court said that Lubanga had been respectful and cooperative during his
trial, “notwithstanding some particularly onerous circumstances,” including two
stays of the proceedings due to the prosecution’s failure to disclose evidence
to the defense and to comply with court orders to disclose other information.
The court did not find it appropriate to impose a fine against Lubanga given
that he is indigent.

Lubanga was sentenced to 13 years for conscripting
children under 15, to 12 years for enlisting them, and to 14 years for using
them to participate actively in hostilities. The joint sentence is 14
years.

Both the prosecution and the defense can appeal the sentence if
they consider that it is not proportionate to the gravity of the crimes for
which Lubanga was found guilty. In accordance with the Rome Statute, the judges
ordered that the six years already spent by Lubanga in detention be deduced from
the sentence.

The ICC’s public information and outreach unit should make
all necessary efforts to explain Lubanga’s sentence to communities most affected
in eastern Congo, Human Rights Watch said.

“That the judges did not
follow the prosecutor’s call for the maximum penalty of 30 years in no way
diminishes the gravity of recruiting child soldiers,” Mattioli-Zeltner said.
“Lubanga’s sentence is an important step forward, but meaningful accountability
for the atrocities in Ituri demands, evidence permitting, the prosecution of
officials in Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda who armed, financed, and directed the
militias that carried out widespread massacres, torture, and
rape.”

Ntaganda, Lubanga’s co-accused, remains at-large. Ntaganda was
chief of military operations in Lubanga’s UPC in Ituri and has been wanted by
the ICC since 2006 on charges of recruiting and using child soldiers in
hostilities in 2002 and 2003. Ntaganda left Ituri and moved to North Kivu
province, eastern Congo, where he has continued to be involved in grave human
rights violations. In 2009, as part of a peace settlement involving his
then-rebel group, he was made a general in the Congolese army.

In March,
however, Ntaganda deserted the Congolese army and began a new rebellion. Human
Rights Watch documented
his renewed involvement in the recruitment of boys in North Kivu – the very
crime for which he is wanted by the ICC – in April and May. On May, 15, 2012,
the ICC prosecutor requested a second arrest warrant against Ntaganda for
murder, pillage, and rape allegedly committed while he was with Lubanga’s UPC in
Ituri. Seeking additional charges against Ntaganda is an important step to bring
justice for the victims of other horrific crimes committed by Lubanga’s militia,
Human Rights Watch said.

On June 29, a United Nations group of experts
published a report with an addendum that described Rwandan military officials
providing Ntaganda and his rebels, known as M23, with weapons, ammunition, and
recruits. In the past week, M23 has taken control of several towns and villages
in Rutshuru territory, eastern Congo.

“Rwanda should take seriously the
ICC’s conviction of Thomas Lubanga and the arrest warrant for his co-accused,
Bosco Ntaganda,” Mattioli-Zeltner said. “The Rwandan government should
immediately take action to stop any and all support by its military to an ICC
war crimes suspect and work with the Congolese government to bring Ntaganda to
justice at the ICC.”

July 1 was the 10^th anniversary of the
International Criminal Court. While some critics have noted that the court has
only convicted one person in its first decade, the court’s docket extends well
beyond this case with another trial completed and awaiting verdict, another one
under way, and two more to start in coming months.

The Office of the
Prosecutor has investigations open in seven situations and has brought 15 cases
involving 28 people, among whom three are sitting or former heads of state. The
ICC needs full cooperation from countries around the world to ensure that
outstanding arrest warrants are executed so that it can carry out its justice
mandate, Human Rights Watch said.

To
view a special webpage on the Lubanga case, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/topic/international-justice/lubanga-trial

For more information on Lubanga’s co-accused, Bosco
Ntaganda, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/topic/international-justice/bosco-ntaganda

To view a video on Ntaganda featuring
testimonies of victims, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/node/106464

To read an opinion piece on the ICC’s
10^th anniversary, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/29/icc-court-last-resort