DRC-Bogoro Victims Finally Laid to Rest
Posted by Jacques Kahorha
IWPR on 17 08 2009
Villagers (click here) refrained from burying murdered relatives believing ICC required bones as evidence against perpetrators. Villagers in Bogoro, in the north-eastern province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, have been told that they can finally bury the remains of those who died in the 2003 massacre in the town, since they are unlikely to be needed in upcoming war crimes trials. “The court has no more investigations,” said Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC, during a visit to the region on July 10....
There have been media monitors that have found less the optimal trial proceedings.
Host: Dear listeners, (click here) hello and welcome to this Vox Pop on international justice. This program is produced by Tayna Radio, in cooperation with Interactive Radio for Justice, and is designed to focus on your concerns on justice. More specifically, Vox Pop programs will focus on the functioning of the International Criminal Court. Some questions were asked to a group of listeners of Tayna Community TV-Radio. Their answers will allow us to know what you understand of international justice....
Even after the findings, the criticism still exists. Rightfully so. If a lesser trial occurred there could be dismissal of the charges and releases of monsters. The international courts are vital to people in nations where guns rule, there can't be mistakes. The forensics and proceedings of the ICC has to be reviewed and brought to state of the art.
The verdict is in for the ICC’s first trial. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo has been judged guilty of the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). An order of reparations and sentencing will be decided at a later date. Lubanga could possibly face life imprisonment....
Targeting Lubanga (click here)
The Lubanga case, given it was the first trial, exposed the ICC to a new barrage of skepticism and frustration among international observers and Congolese. There was some legal bungling that caused delays and threatened a trial dismissal and release of Lubanga. Legal scholars have expressed concern that this did not result in a more divided decision among the judges. But the more significant criticism focused on the justifications for the prosecutorial strategy and charges....
What’s to stop the outsourcing of justice? (click here)
Posted by Bec Hamilton
30 09 2009
Basically, Trial Chamber II had looked at the fact that the DRC was not investigating the case and then determined that this absence of activity meant the DRC was “unwilling” (invoking a definition of “unwilling” that they made up themselves - a “second form of “unwillingness”, which is not expressly provided for in article 17 of the Statute”( para 77)) and that therefore the case was admissible. By contrast, the Prosecution argued that if there is no activity by the State on the case, then the question of ”unwilling” (or indeed “unable”) does not arise, given the plain language of Article 17 (1)(a) of the Rome Statute:
Art 17(1) states: “The Court shall determine that a case is inadmissible where: (a) The case is being investigated or prosecuted by a State which has jurisdiction over it, unless the State is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out the investigation or prosecution”...
If Ambassador Powers is to stem the crime of genocide, the ICC has to work to contain these monsters and levy findings that remove the danger from the people who are the focus of violence. I would think her interest in the efficiency of the ICC would enter her concerns at the United Nations.
Associated Press in the Hague theguardian.com
The international criminal court has convicted (click here) a rebel leader of charges including murder and pillage over a deadly attack on a village in eastern Congo, but acquitted him of rape, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
Germain Katanga showed no emotion as judges convicted him as an accessory in the attack on the strategic village of Bogoro on 24 February 2003, in which about 200 people were hacked or shot to death and many women were raped and used as sex slaves.
Katanga, nicknamed Simba, is only the second person convicted since the court was established in 2002. Another alleged rebel leader originally charged alongside him, Mathieu Ngudjolo, was acquitted of all charges in December 2012....
