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| July 8, 2008 |
Congolese Warlord Faces ICC Charges Amid Setbacks to First Trial By Anthony Dworkin |
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Bemba is the most senior political leader in the custody of the ICC. His trial would be significant because it would likely be the first case before the Court to focus primarily on sexual violence. The charges stem from a rebellion in the Central African Republic led by a former army chief of staff, François Bozizé, against the country's president Ange Félix Patassé. Bemba, leader of a Congolese militia known as the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) intervened to fight with the forces of the president. During the campaign, MLC forces are alleged to have conducted a campaign of rape and other atrocities against civilians. According to the ICC's prosecutor, there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bemba is responsible for three counts of crimes against humanity (rape, torture and murder) and four counts of war crimes (rape, torture, murder, and outrages on personal dignity). Crimes against humanity are atrocities carried out in a widespread or systematic way against a civilian population, while war crimes are violations of the laws of armed conflict--in this case, violations of the laws applying to internal (or "non-international") conflicts, i.e. civil wars. The ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said, "Justice is coming for the victims, for the victims of the Central African Republic, for the victims of massive sexual violence worldwide. We listened to them, and we transformed their painful stories into evidence. There will be no impunity." The arraignment of Bemba was a timely piece of good news for the prosecutor's office, coming after a week dominated by stories about the possible collapse of the ICC's intended first trial, of another Congolese militia leader, Thomas Lubanga. On June 13, the chamber of the ICC in charge of Lubanga's trial imposed a stay on proceedings, in a dispute relating to the handling of evidence by the prosecution. On July 2, the ICC's Appeals Chamber went so far as to order Lubanga's release, though this has now been suspended while the prosecution appeals the decision. The problems with Lubanga's trial stem from a provision in the ICC Statute that allows the prosecutor to enter into confidentiality agreements while gathering evidence. According to Article 54(3)(e) of the Rome Statute, the prosecution may "agree not to disclose, at any stage of the proceedings, documents or
information that the Prosecutor obtains on the condition of confidentiality
and solely for the purpose of generating new evidence, unless the provider In the Lubanga case, it has been disclosed that the prosecution has over 200 pieces of evidence that might be helpful to the defence, but which it is unable to turn over to them because of confidentiality agreements. By far the largest part of the evidence (156 pieces, to be precicse) comes from the United Nations, which signed a confidentiality agreement in order to protect its peacekeepers in DR Congo from the risk of reprisals. At the same time, the prosecution intends to use some evidence obtained from the same sources in its prosecution, having got agreement for those particular pieces of evidence to be declassified. The Trial Chamber, in its decision ordering a stay in the trial, described the prosecution's approach as "a wholesale and serious abuse, and a violation of an important provision which was intended to allow the prosecution to receive evidence confidentially, in very restrictive circumstances." It said the Prosecutor had used the confidentiality provision "to obtain a wide range of materials under the cloak of confidentiality, in order to identify from those materials evidence to be used at trial," but said this was "the exact opposite of the proper use of the provision, which is, exceptionally, to allow the prosecution to receive information or documents which are not for use at trial but which are instead intended to "lead" to new evidence." However, there are indications that the problems over evidence may be resolved. Moreno-Ocampo said on July 3 that "the obstacles have been lifted," and that "the UN has sent a letter authorising the other parties to have access to the documents." He said he expected Lubanga's trial to begin by the autumn.
Related Links: First appearance of Jean-Pierre Bemba before the Pre-Trial Chamber III International Criminal Court July 4, 2008 Case Information Sheet: The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo (pdf file) International Criminal Court July 2008 Decision on the consequences of non-disclosure of exculpatory materials (pdf file) Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo Trial Chamber I, International Criminal Court June 13, 2008 Obstacles to Lubanga war crimes trial lifted: ICC AFP July 3, 2008
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