Lubanga Trial Website (The Hague)
Congo-Kinshasa: Ntaganda Asks to Be Released From ICC Detention
By Wairagala Wakabi, 19 September 2013Bosco Ntaganda, the Congolese militia commander who voluntarily surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) last March, has asked judges to release him from the court's detention.
His lawyer, Marc Desalliers, said Mr. Ntaganda's willingness to cooperate could not be disputed at this stage of the proceedings because he voluntarily surrendered to the court and on numerous occasions stated his desire to appear before a judge.
In the August 20, 2013 application, the lawyer said the war crimes accused would not leave Dutch territory for the duration of the proceedings against him. Furthermore, Mr. Ntaganda would comply with any conditions judges attached to his release, including appearing at hearings and not obstructing investigations and court proceedings.
Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova has asked the Dutch government to comment on any conditions that would have to be met to enable the Netherlands to accept Mr. Ntaganda on its territory. Prosecutors were also asked to file a response to the release request.
On March 18, 2013, Mr. Ntaganda turned up at the American embassy in the Rwandan capital Kigali and asked to be transferred to The Hague, where there were two arrest warrants on his head.
The first warrant - issued in 2006 - alleged that Mr. Ntaganda, along with Thomas Lubanga, recruited, enlisted, and used child soldiers in armed conflict during 2002 and 2003.
Whereas the Congolese government handed Mr. Lubanga to the world court, his co-accused remained at large until this year, oscillating between service with the national army and command of anti-government militia groups. The Lubanga trial was the first conducted by the court and resulted in a March 2012 conviction. Mr. Lubanga is currently appealing his 14 year jail sentence.
The second arrest warrant for Mr. Ntaganda, issued in July last year, accused him of the crimes against humanity of murder, rape, and sexual slavery, and war crimes of murder, attacks against a civilian population, pillaging, rape, and sexual slavery.
Prosecutors charge that Mr. Lubanga was the head of the Patriotic Force for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC), a group that used children under the age of fifteen in armed conflict, while Mr. Ntaganda was the group's deputy chief of staff.
In the application for the second warrant of arrest, prosecutors said the circumstances that led to issuing the first warrant still subsisted, including Mr. Ntaganda's "potential, continued commission" of crimes and intimidation of potential witnesses.
In the application for interim release, the defense said arguments made years earlier could not "satisfy the requisite threshold" to warrant pre-trial detention, particularly given more recent developments.
Mr. Desalliers stated that Mr. Ntaganda surrendered to the court eight months after the July 6, 2012 order by Congolese president Joseph Kabila for his dismissal from the country's army. The surrender was made "once he had planned his voluntary surrender to ensure that it took place in conditions guaranteeing its effectiveness and security."
He added that Mr. Ntaganda never sought to evade justice and surrendered when he was in a position to do so. Furthermore, Mr. Desalliers said, the prosecution had confirmed to the court that it had been informed of Mr. Ntaganda's place of residence, "which, in any case, he had never sought to conceal."
The defense lawyer also submitted that because Mr. Ntaganda was considered indigent by the court and was a subject of United Nations resolutions that imposed a travel ban and an asset freeze, he could not abscond from justice. He also said the accused did not hold a passport or other travel document that could make him a flight risk.
Mr. Desalliers stated that Mr. Ntaganda wanted to make "an active contribution to the preparation of his defense," and if released he would be able to communicate readily with his defense team.
The defense argued that the conditions for Mr. Ntaganda's detention were not justified at this stage in the proceedings. "It rests with the prosecution to establish the necessity for detention and the defense must be afforded the opportunity to respond to the prosecution arguments," said Mr. Desalliers.
A request by the public counsel for victims, Paolina Massidda, to make comments to the release application, was rejected by Judge Trendafilova. The judge said no victims had been permitted yet to participate in the proceedings.
The confirmation of charges hearing for Mr. Ntaganda is scheduled for February 2014.
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France - Rwanda -
Article published the Friday 20 September 2013 - Latest update : Friday 20 September 2013
France charges Rwandan doctor with planning genocide
Eugene Rwamucyo soupçonné d'avoir participé au génocide rwandais de 1994, travaillait à l'hôpital de Maubeuge, dans le nord de la France.
AFP/Philippe Huguen
French judges have charged a Rwandan doctor with planning genocide, a judicial source said Friday. Rwanda has issued an international arrest warrant against Eugene Rwamucyo accusing him of planning and carrying out atrocities in the Butare region in the south of the country in 1994.
After examining Rwanda's case, French judges who investigate crimes against humanity decided to charge Rwamucyo with "involvement in an agreement with a view of committing the crime of genocide", an anonymous source told the AFP news agency.
But they named him as a "supervised witness" - a status that means that he can be interviewed under caution - on the more serious charges of committing genocide and of complicity, the source said.
"The fact that my client was placed under the status of supervised witness, and not under formal investigation, for 'genocide' shows the judges have doubts on this case and on the complaint that was made against him," his lawyer, Philippe Meilhac, said.
The families of genocide victims have filed a complaint against Rwamucyo, who lives in Belgium.
He used to work in a hospital in northern France but was suspended and later fired when mamangement discovered he was the subject of an international arrest warrant.
A French court refused to extradite him in 2010.
France has repeatedly refused to extradite genocide suspects to Rwanda, on the grounds that they might be denied a fair trial, but has sent some to Tanzania to face trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
There are currently about 20 genocide-related cases pending in French courts.
An estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were massacred over the course of about 100 days from April to July 1994.
But they named him as a "supervised witness" - a status that means that he can be interviewed under caution - on the more serious charges of committing genocide and of complicity, the source said.
"The fact that my client was placed under the status of supervised witness, and not under formal investigation, for 'genocide' shows the judges have doubts on this case and on the complaint that was made against him," his lawyer, Philippe Meilhac, said.
The families of genocide victims have filed a complaint against Rwamucyo, who lives in Belgium.
He used to work in a hospital in northern France but was suspended and later fired when mamangement discovered he was the subject of an international arrest warrant.
A French court refused to extradite him in 2010.
France has repeatedly refused to extradite genocide suspects to Rwanda, on the grounds that they might be denied a fair trial, but has sent some to Tanzania to face trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
There are currently about 20 genocide-related cases pending in French courts.
An estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were massacred over the course of about 100 days from April to July 1994.
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France - Rwanda -
France - Rwanda -
Article published the Tuesday 17 September 2013 - Latest update : Tuesday 17 September 2013
France's Public Prosecutor appeals over Serubuga extradition to Rwanda
Court room in Douai
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In France, state prosecutors said on Tuesday that they'll appeal against a court's decision to block the extradition of a former Rwandan army chief suspected of war crimes.
Former Colonel Laurent Serubuga was taken into custody in northern France in July, two months after a Rwandan court issued an international warrant for his arrest.
Kigali suspects him of involvement in the 1994 genocide, when he was Deputy Chief of Staff in the Rwandan army.
A French court refused last Thursday to approve Rwanda's extradition request, and ordered Serubuga to be released from custody.
The court also rejected the murder charges against the former colonel, on the grounds that the warrent was issued more than ten years after the alleged crimes.
France's Public Prosecutor says it will pursue the case in an exceptional Cassation Court, arguing that the severity of the charges means the extradition deserves special consideration.
Serubuga is thought to have come to France in 1998, and is one of about 20 genocide-related suspects residing in the country.
French courts have repeatedly refused to extradite them to Rwanda, fearing they would not receive fair trials.
Kigali suspects him of involvement in the 1994 genocide, when he was Deputy Chief of Staff in the Rwandan army.
A French court refused last Thursday to approve Rwanda's extradition request, and ordered Serubuga to be released from custody.
The court also rejected the murder charges against the former colonel, on the grounds that the warrent was issued more than ten years after the alleged crimes.
France's Public Prosecutor says it will pursue the case in an exceptional Cassation Court, arguing that the severity of the charges means the extradition deserves special consideration.
Serubuga is thought to have come to France in 1998, and is one of about 20 genocide-related suspects residing in the country.
French courts have repeatedly refused to extradite them to Rwanda, fearing they would not receive fair trials.
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