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DRC: Judges hope for first ICC tria in mid-February 2008; ICC prosecutors in Lubanga trial want witnesses protected from reprisals; Interview with Beatrice Le Fraper

02 Oct 2007

Dear All,



Please find below information on recent developments related to the International Criminal Court's investigation of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).



Our coverage includes:



(1) ICC judges favor a mid-February 2008 start date for the trial of former Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga according to an Agence France Presse newswire story

(2) The AP reports that ICC prosecutors in the Thomas Lubanga trial want witnesses protected from reprisals

(3) Radio France Internationale interviews Beatrice Le Fraper: "The ICC will open a third investigation in the DRC."


Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.



Regards,



Linda

Communications Section

CICC

[email protected]



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I. JUDGES HOPE FOR FIRST ICC TRIAL IN MID-FEBRUARY 2008



"Judges hope for first ICC trial in mid-February 2008," AFP, 1st October 2007, (link not available)



"Judges at the young International Criminal Court said Monday they were hoping to hold the tribunal's first-ever trial -- that of war crimes charges against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga -- in mid-February 2008.

"Our tentative proposal is a date somewhere around mid-February," presiding judge Adrian Fulford said during a procedural hearing in Lubanga's case Monday. [...]It is not clear when the judges will decide on a definite trial date. [...]"



II. PROSECUTORS IN THOMAS LUBANGA TRIAL WANT WITNESSES PROTECTED FROM REPRISALS



"Prosecutors in Congo warlord trial want witnesses protected from reprisals," Associated Press, 1st October 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/01/europe/EU-GEN-International-Court-Congo.php



"The prosecution in the war crimes case of an accused Congolese warlord wants nearly all its witnesses in a protection program, saying their lives and the lives of their families would be in danger if their identities become known.



But defense attorneys said prosecutors were using the request as a tactic to delay disclosing their evidence against their client, Thomas Lubanga, and to imply that he is conducting a campaign of intimidation from his jail cell.

The issue arose at a pretrial hearing intended to set a date for the start of the trial, the first by the International Criminal Court. [...]



Presiding judge Adrian Fulford indicated he favored beginning the trial in mid-February, and asked the prosecution to present a summary of its case in November. The hearing was to continue Tuesday.



Prosecutor Ekkehard Withopf told the court he had 37 witnesses ready to testify, but wanted protection for all but two of them. So far, the court registrar had agreed to protect 11 of them, and Withopf asked the judges to help speed up the decision on the other applications.



"The defense is a bit shocked by the way the situation is presented," said Duval. It was as if two trials were being conducted against Lubanga, he said, one for the crimes in the indictment and another "in an implicit way" for intimidating witnesses.



"The defense cannot accept that. It is a trial within a trial, and it is completely unfair," he said. [...]"



III. INTERVIEW WITH BEATRICE LE FRAPER, DIRECTOR OF THE COOPERATION DIVISION OF THE ICC



"B=E9atrice Le Fraper : =AB LA CPI va ouvrir une troisi=E8me enqu=EAte sur les auteurs des atrocit=E9s en Rdc=BB," RFI/Le Potentiel (DRC), 26 September 2007,

http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/46966 (French)



During an interview with Radio France Internationale on 25 September, Beatrice Le Fraper, Director of International Co-operation for the Prosecutor of the ICC, indicated that her institution will open a third investigation concerning the authors of the atrocities committed in the DRC. To this end, she let it be known that no area, party or group would be able to escape the Court's analysis, currently underway. Here is the interview:



L.P : In Congo-Kinshasa, a military chief of Ituri, Thomas Lubanga, is currently being judged by your Court. Why aren't the other the militia chiefs [being tried]?



B L F: We will start Mr. Lubanga's trial very soon in the Hague. It is our first investigation. We are carrying out a second investigation which also relates to a group of Ituri, and we have announced the beginning of a third investigation for which we are selecting a framework. Therefore, it is inaccurate to say that the other Ituri militia chiefs are not prosecuted.



L.P: Are militia chiefs that have just enrolled in the governmental army like Peter Karim safe from all prosecution?



B L F: Without referring to any one person in particular, I assure you that no immunity is opposable at the International Criminal Court. And, it is indeed without question that recently integrated people are no safer from prosecution than others.



L.P: According to the MONUC and Human Rights Watch, more than one hundred civilians, men, women and children were massacred, last January, by the police force in the province of Low-Congo. What does the Court make of this?



B L F: As I said, the Court is preparing to announce the beginning of a third investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We are analyzing all the information transmitted to us by sources such as those which you mentioned: international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and we will determine the periods and the areas from whichh we will now on carry our efforts. The recent information and allegations concerning Kivu, for example, form part of our selection process for the International Criminal Court.



L.P: And the police force's violent acts against the followers of "Bundu dia Kongo," that occurred in Low-Congo last January?



B L F: We followed these events with very careful attention. We are collecting the bulk of the information. The challenge for the International Criminal Court, set up to prosecute the authors of the most serious crimes, is to determine, for this third investigation, the most relevant objectives. The ICC has as a policy not to carried out many investigations, but to try to concentrate on certain objectives so as to have, then, a dissuasive effect on the commission of crimes. Therefore, the selection of this third investigation in the DRC is indeed an extremely delicate process. We cannot be wrong. And I want to say that for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court's office, it is one of the most difficult processes at the present time in The Hague: selecting the framework for this third investigation.



L.P: You spoke of two Kivu, B=E9atrice Le Fraper, in North-Kivu precisely, President Kabila has just affirmed that the dissenting General Laurent Nkunda was being pursued for crimes against humanity. Did you receive a complaint on this matter at the Court?



B L F: The Court would be very competent if it decided to seize acts committed by dissident General Nkunda in Kivu. But at the present time, as I indicated, we are involved in the process of selecting the framework for our next investigation. We do not need to receive this advantage of complaint[ST2] . We are qualified (the ICC) for the situation in the DRC. Therefore, the authors of atrocities in the DRC must know that we can, at any time, open an investigation on the crimes and actions that they are blamed for.



L.P: And in North-Kivu, are there, to your knowledge, factions that have committed more violent acts than others?



B L F: In a general manner at the current time, we are in the process, concerning the whole area, of examining many allegations, and very serious allegations. We have not yet finished analyzing all the levels of gravity, which will enable us to make a selection on the third case in the DRC. Therefore, at this stage, all that I can say it is that, no area, no group, no party will escape the analysis, which the International Criminal Court is carrying out.



L.P: But the investigation will apparently be in Kivu?



B L F: No, I simply mentioned Kivu as one of the areas where we had received very serious information or allegations, notably of forced displacement, campaigns of sexual violence and torture.



L.P: But nothing is excluded. Could you also be interested in violence that took place this year in Low-Congo or in Kinshasa?



B.L.F: Nothing is excluded.



[Translation is unofficial and provided by the CICC secretariat]



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