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DRC: Katanga Conf. Hearing Postponed; IWPR on Implications of Lubanga Trial

01 Feb 2008

Dear Colleagues,

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

This digest includes an ICC press release announcing that the
confirmation hearing in the Katanga case, which had been set to 28
February 2008, has been postponed to a later date; the decision on
this suspension issued by the Court; an Associated Press article from
the Hague on the same topic; an IWPR article by Désiré-Israel Kazadi
regarding the ICC's inaugural trial of Lubanga: "The conduct and
outcome of the trial is likely to have huge implications for
international justice."; an article from Hirondelle News Agency about
the Trust Fund for Victims; information on new guidelines issued
regarding victims' participation in the Lubanga case; a Congolese
press review on ICC's position on Jean-Pierre Bemba.

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.

With regards,

Sasha Tenenbaum
CICC Communications

I. KATANGA CONFIRMATION HEARING POSTPONED

i. "Confirmation hearing in the Katanga case postponed," ICC Press
Release, 31 January 2008,
http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/324.html

"Pre-Trial Chamber I decided, on 30 January 2008, that the
confirmation hearing in the Katanga case which was provisionally
scheduled to start on 28 February 2008, is postponed. A new date will
be determined by the Chamber at a later date.
The Chamber stated that the Defence must have access to the evidence
on which the Prosecution intends to rely on 30 days before the
initiation of a confirmation hearing. And since there are a number of
pending issues, the Chamber finds it necessary to reschedule the date
of the confirmation hearing…"

ii. "Decision on the Suspension of the Time-Limits Leading to the
Initiation of the Confirmation Hearing," ICC Website, 30 January 2008,
http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-07-172-ENG.pdf

"…For these reasons decides that the 30-day time-limit provided for in
article 61(3) of the Statute and rule 121 of the Rules for the Defence
to have access to the evidence on which the Prosecution intends to
rely at the confirmation hearing in either an unredacted form or with
the redactions authorised by the Single Judge pursuant to rule 81 (2)
and (4) of the Rules, shall not begin to run until otherwise decided
by the Chamber; Decides that, accordingly, the confirmation hearing is
postponed, and a new date will be determined by the Chamber…"

iii. "Pretrial Hearing Postponed for Congolese Militia Leader Charged
with War Crimes," Associated Press, 31 January 2008
http://www.pr-inside.com/pretrial-hearing-postponed-for-congolese-militia-r414682.htm

"A crucial pretrial hearing for a Congolese militia leader accused of
mass murder, rape and sexual enslavement has been postponed to allow
his defense attorneys more time to prepare, the International Criminal
Court announced Thursday.

"…Lawyers have yet to agree on issues such as disclosure of evidence
by the prosecution to the defense ahead of the trial, the court said.
A panel of judges dealing with the case said in a written decision
that `the Defense must have access to the evidence on which the
Prosecution intends to rely on 30 days before the initiation of a
confirmation hearing.' The February hearing was intended to let judges
decide if the evidence against Katanga is strong enough to warrant a
full trial.

"Katanga, known by the nom de guerre Simba, is accused of leading the
Patriotic Resistance force when it launched a murderous February 2003
attack on the village of Bogoro in northeastern Congo. The soldiers
murdered 200 villagers, raped women and girls and forced them into
sexual slavery, according to details released by prosecutors.
Katanga's men, notorious for eating the hearts and livers of their
victims, also imprisoned other villagers in a room full of corpses.

"…In total, he faces three charges of crimes against humanity and six
of war crimes. He was handed to the court by Congolese authorities in
October and has not entered a plea. Katanga is one of only two war
crimes suspects being held at the court's detention unit inside the
high walls of a Dutch jail close to The Hague's North Sea coast. The
other suspect is also an alleged Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga,
who is charged with recruiting child soldiers. Lubanga's trial is
expected to start this year."

II. LUBANGA CASE TO HAVE `HUGE IMPLICATIONS' FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

"All Eyes on Lubanga Trial," by Désiré-Israel Kazadi (IWPR) 30 January
2008, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=342327&apc_state=henh

"The credibility of the International Criminal Court will be tested at
its inaugural trial in two months' time, which will see the militia
leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo facing charges of recruiting child
soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern Ituri region.

The case - which begins on March 31 - will send signals to other
governments and their leaders, not the least of which are Uganda and
Sudan, where men indicted by the ICC are still at large, as to how
committed the world is to a universal system of justice. A thorough
and reasoned trial for Lubanga could generate respect for
international judicial mechanisms, and may well spur cooperation and
police action…

"And, perhaps more important, a successful trial, no matter how it is
defined, could instill a sense of trust in the ICC. Ultimately, that
trust would offer hope for millions of victims of war crimes, not only
in the eastern Congo, but in dozens of other war-torn regions.

"Consequently, interest in the Lubanga case has been high among
journalists in the Congo's sprawling capital of Kinshasa. This has
intensified with the recent arrest and incarceration of a second Ituri
militia leader, Germain Katanga. `We give a very good position to the
ICC [in our publication], because we think that it guarantees the
impartiality of its judges and is determined to track down alleged
criminals,' said Diana Gikupa, editor-in-chief of Kinshasa's
pro-government newspaper L'Avenir. In the Congo, where judges are
notoriously corrupt and the judicial system is chaotic at best, crimes
go uninvestigated and unpunished, leading to widespread distrust of
courts.

"…The ICC is dependent on the Congolese press to inform citizens about
the Lubanga trial's daily turn of events, procedures, motions and
rebuttals, but often finds that this is done with mixed results.
Congolese reporters tend to be poorly trained and many are unfamiliar
with the legal workings of a far-off international court based in The
Hague.

"…To combat this problem, the ICC spent three years working with and
educating journalists about the ICC. Yet, said Madidi, it may have
been insufficient to overcome some pervasive misconceptions. Among the
most prevalent, he said, is that the ICC doesn't have jurisdiction
over crimes committed before July 2002, the year the court came into
effect. This perplexes many Congolese because they've experienced war
crimes for decades. …[Congolese journalists and observers] also wonder
why the ICC isn't prosecuting those who they say are behind the
conflicts in Ituri. At the Kinshasa weekly Echoes des Grands Lacs,
director John Lwamba said ... `We criticize, in our analysis, the work
of the court, considering that the court is only dealing with `small
fish'...

"Sonia Robla, the Hague-based head of the ICC's public information
unit, said the court works hard to correct the various mistakes and
deeply held misconceptions among some members of the press.

"Like the country itself, the Congolese media is sprawling and
disparate, with several daily newspapers in the capital and hundreds
of small radio stations scattered around the country, many of which
produce their own news programs.

"…But because the printed news media is virtually non-existent outside
Kinshasa, Madidi told IWPR that it is through radio and television
that most Congolese hear about the ICC. To generate interest in the
ICC, popular Congolese actors have been enlisted for sketches that are
broadcast to explain the ICC, including the rights of the accused and
crimes under the court's jurisdiction.

"It seems to be working. Awareness of the court is high in the Congo.
But the … ICC still has its critics. More than 30 percent said they
disliked the slow speed at which the ICC works. With its first trial
finally set to begin, the ICC hopes to quiet some of this criticism.

"Exactly how the court will ensure that the Congolese population,
including journalists, will be kept informed about proceedings in The
Hague isn't clear. `It is important to bring everything happening in
the courtroom as close as possible to the communities affected, and
journalists are a natural way to convey information in the country,'
said Robla. `For the court it is not only important that justice is
done, but also that justice is seen to be done.'

Désiré-Israel Kazadi is an IWPR journalist in Kinshasa. International
justice reporter Lisa Clifford contributed to this article.

ii. "Lubanga Case: Trial Judges set new guidelines for victims'
participation",
18 January 2008,
http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC-01-04-01-06-1119-ENG.pdf

Chamber I issued an important decision on victims' participation in
the Lubanga case. In their decision, the judges set general guidelines
on a range of matters related to the participation of victims
throughout the proceedings, i.e. Criteria to be applied to
applications, Modalities of Participation, Common Legal
Representation, Protective and Special Measures for victims as well as
the Dual status of victims-witnesses.

III. VICTIMS TRUST FUND

"Trust Fund Set to Assist Congo War Victims," Hirondelle News Agency
(Lausanne), 30 January 2008,
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200801310499.html

"The Trust Fund for Victims, an organization arising from the
International Criminal Court (ICC), notified the pre-trial chamber
handling the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of its
intention `to undertake activities of assisting war victims in the
war-torn African country.'

"This project is a first, before the court, which could soon clarify
in a concrete manner the paramount place of victims, allotted by the
Rome Statute and which neither the military tribunal of Nuremberg nor
the ad hoc international tribunals had provided. The Trust Fund for
Victims can, on its on volition and according to rules, decide to
support victims in a given situation such as the war in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, without them being party to a case.

`International jurisprudence showed that the simple fact of engaging
in prosecution is not enough to meet the needs of the victims in a
post-war society, and that the desires of the victims go well beyond
the concepts of retributive justice,' according to the Executive
Director of the Trust Fund, Andre Laperriere, in a document
transmitted to the judges on 24 January.

"The chamber has 45 days to verify if the decision of the trust fund
contravenes the fairness of the trial, the rights of the defense, the
presumption of innocence or the admissibility of a case. For the past
one year, the fund has evaluated the requirements in the DRC and in
Uganda, where the prosecutor has opened his first investigations.

"The members of the trust fund fear that `the victims who will benefit
from the activities (...) could be threatened because they will be
regarded as having contacts with the Court.'

"…The Trust Fund for Victims is one of two creations of the Rome
Statute, said Laperriere. `We are complementary, but 90% of our work
is done at a distinct level,' he added. It is funded by donations from
states, international organizations, companies and individuals… It
can act on its own behalf, as it is the case today, or following an
order from the chamber, after the conviction of a defendant.

IV. CONGOLESE PRESS REVIEW

"Review of the Congolese Press for 31 January 2008," Digital Congo,
http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/49526 (French)

An article from the DRC press, referring to previous news that the ICC
was interviewing high officials from Bemba's party (MLC) in the
context of the "Bemba Case", reports that representatives of the ICC
Office in Kinshasa stressed that there cannot be talks of a "Bemba
case" at this stage or even say that Bemba is linked to any case. The
ICC does not work based on people's name but based on situations.

**********************************
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