The Open Society Institute offered its summary of the Lubanga defense on its Lubangatrial.org website, boiling down the arguments to “witnesses lied, Lubanga not guilty.” The website’s summary, and unofficial transcript of the opening argument of Catherine Mabille, defense counsel for Thomas Lubanga is available here. Catherine Mabille is a Paris-based lawyer and argued...
Lubanga defense witness Claude Nyeki Django testified for the third day that Thomas Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) did not draft child soldiers. The proceeding stopped for a time because Django broke down on the stand for a second time. After meeting with a psychologist from the Victims and Witness Unit (VWU) of...
The Interational Criminal Court, pre-trial chamber I today ruled that the Office of the Prosecutor had not provided sufficient evidence to continue the case against Bahar Idriss Abu Garda for trial. Abu Garda was the first case from the Sudan to come before the court. He appeared voluntarily with counsel in May of 2009...
Judge Adrian Fulford, lead judge on the three judge panel sitting at the International Criminal Court to hear the case against Thomas Lubanga inquired of the prosecutors why they were late in disclosing evidence to the defense. The defense complained that the late disclosure of information relating to their witnesses just before the witnesses...
A witness called by the defense testified that his son, who appeared as a prosecution witness lied to the court when he testified about being a child soldier in Thomas Lubanga’s army. Lubanga is the first person to face trial at the International Criminal Court. Lubanga, from the Democratic Republic of Congo is accused...
The International Criminal Court made history in March of 2009 by issuing an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state, Omar Al Bashir, the President of Sudan. The warrant for his arrest was based on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The pre-trial chamber though declined to issue a warrant for...
The trial of Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngdolo Chui resumed today at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is the second ICC case to proceed to trial. Katanga and Chui are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are...
A third child soldier victim of Thomas Lubanga testified about the treatment of young soldiers at the direction of Lubanga. The victim testified about his abduction and conscription into the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC in French). A detailed report on the day of testimony is available here. The testimony is part of the...
The Lubanga trial entered an unprecedented phase last week as the victims who are seeking reparations from Lubanga and the court testified about the harm they suffered because of Lubanga. The victims tesitfied about their experiences being abducted as child soldiers and of others being held in sexual slavery. A summary of the testimony...
Recent Comments