2007年VOA标准英语-DRCongo War Crimes Case to Present In-Person Te

Former Congolese militia¹ leader Thomas Lubanga is the first person to be tried by the world's only permanent global war crimes court, the Hague-based International Criminal Court. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's Central Africa bureau.

Thomas Lubanga (r) in the International Criminal Court in The Hague

The prosecution² team will present alleged³ child victims as witnesses to testify that Thomas Lubanga forced children to fight for his ethnic⁴ militia, the Union of Congolese Patriots⁵, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Anneke Van Woudenberg, with the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch lobby group, says the alleged victims' presence in the courtroom makes this case a landmark⁶ in international justice.

"It is quite unique for any international court to have a very official role for victims to be able to participate," she noted⁷.

Prosecutors⁸ say Lubanga was responsible for allowing children as young as 10 to be kidnapped and forced to fight when he headed a militia in the mineral-rich northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Human rights activists⁹ say inter-ethnic clashes in Ituri and violence between militia groups vying¹⁰ for control of the mines left 60,000 people dead.

Lubanga's lawyer, Jean Flamme, says the fact that the court is not charging Lubanga for any of these killings¹¹ discredits¹² the child recruitment charge. "Why are the killings not in the charges?" asked Flamme. "There are tens of thousands dead over there. No one is charged with killings. Enrolling¹³ child soldiers and using them in hostilities¹⁴ - to do what? There is no answer to that question."

Human Rights Watch's Van Woudenberg says Lubanga is guilty of much more than forced child recruitment. "His group has committed numerous other atrocities¹⁵ in [Democratic Republic of] Congo including murder, rape¹⁶, massacres," she said. "But those are not charges that he currently faces at the court. For justice to be done, it is important he is charged for the broad range of crimes."

Even if the prosecution charges Lubanga with additional crimes, Flamme says his client cannot be held responsible for members of his militia. Flamme says during the six months Lubanga headed the army, he faced several mutinies.

Flamme says his client was a victim of international and Ugandan mining interests who retaliated¹⁷ when he refused to grant them rights to the mines. "He was not able to contain the army he inherited," said Flamme. "Lubanga did not incite¹⁸ his army, inherited by hazard, to kill. On the contrary, he instructed them to protect the population and stop the killings. "

Van Woudenberg and the prosecution team disagree with those who say Lubanga was a frustrated¹⁹ pacifist politician battling corruption²⁰. They say he is a warlord who promised children weapons and wealth if they fought for him.

If convicted, Lubanga faces a life sentence.

The prosecution is investigating another Ituri group and says it will soon issue more war crimes arrest warrants.

The mineral-rich DRC has been a battleground for local rebels, militia groups and armies from neighboring countries. There are still pockets of instability, even after the country's first open elections in more than four decades, overseen²¹ by one of the United Nations' largest peacekeeping forces.