Germain Katanga wanted to go back to the Democratic Republic of Congo to rejoin the army or become a farmer, but the judicial authorities have not finished with him. \u201cHe will be tried for acts other than those dealt with by the ICC,\u201d says Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, referring to the International Criminal Court which in 2014 sentenced Katanga to 12 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
Germain Katanga, 37, was born in Mambasa, in the Ituri province of northeast DRC. On February 24, 2003, he was accused of involvement in an attack on the village of Bogoro that left 200 people dead. At the time he was commander of the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Forces (FRPI), one of numerous armed groups fighting for control of natural resources (including gold), often on an ethnic basis.<\/p>\n
Following a peace accord Katanga, known as \u201cSimba\u201d (meaning lion in Swahili), was promoted in December 2004 to Brigadier general in the Congolese army. In March 2005 he was arrested in Kinshasa after the murder in Ituri a month earlier of nine Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers. He remained in provisional detention until October 2007 but he was not tried. Instead the DRC transferred him to the ICC, which wanted him for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Bogoro.<\/p>\n
In 2014, the former rebel leader was sentenced to 12 years\u2019 imprisonment and did not appeal. On December 19, 2015, he was transferred at his request from The Hague to finish serving his sentence in the Congolese capital Kinshasa. He was accompanied by Thomas Lubanga, sentenced by the ICC in 2012 to 14 years in jail for recruiting children under 15 and using them to fight in another rebel group in Ituri. Lubanga is set to be released in 2020.<\/p>\n
Germain Katanga got his sentenced reduced for good behaviour and for expressing regret to the victims. He was due to leave prison on January 18 but steps have been taken to keep him there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have several cases involving him,\u201d says Justice Minister Thambwe Mwamba. \u201cThey include one concerning the UN peacekeepers, but I don\u2019t want to reveal the others because of judicial secrecy during the investigations. We are doing things according to the procedures. He has been informed, and knows he is staying in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawyer Georges Kapimaba, head of the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ), told JusticeInfo it is \u201clogical\u201d that Germain Katanga \u201chave the chance to answer before Congolese justice\u201d for alleged crimes other than those tried by the ICC. He says, however, that the government \u201cmust refrain from any interference in the said procedures, which we hope will be just and fair\u201d.<\/p>\n
So why did the DRC not try Katanga before sending him to the ICC? \u201cThe international court wanted him, so we let him go and continued investigating the cases concerning him and other people, and we concluded it is essential that he be heard,\u201d said Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, adding that if Katanga does not have the means to pay for a lawyer \u201cthe Bar will assign him a pro bono one\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Ituri-based Congolese Association for Respect of Human Rights (ACRDH) told JusticeInfo it does not rule out an ulterior motive. Its executive director Junior Safari wonders if Kinshasa is not trying to \u201ckeep Katanga in custody to separate him from his grassroots\u201d because it fears a resurgence [of attacks] by his militia at a time when \u201cthere is rising tension in the country owing to the paralysis of the electoral process\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also expressed concern for the victims. \u201cEven if he is tried and sentenced, as long as there are no reparations for victims, the sentence will not be worth much,\u201d he said. \u201cThe victims expected something concrete from the ICC and nothing was done. It\u2019s not the Congolese authorities who are going to rectify that. Experience shows that no judgment has yet satisfied the victims with regard to reparations.\u201d<\/p>\n
On December 23 Human Rights Watch, focusing on the case of the murdered UN peacekeepers, urged the DRC authorities to ensure \u201ca fair and speedy trial\u201d for Katanga and his three co-accused, Floribert Njabu, Sharif Manda and Pierre-C\u00e9lestin Mbodina, who were \u201cdetained arbitrarily for several years before going to The Hague to testify before the ICC\u201d in the Katanga trial. Nearly 18 months after their return to Kinshasa, Human Rights Watch says their situation is \u201cworrying\u201d. \u201cAmended indictments were issued against them in October 2014, but their defence lawyer was not able to gain access to their file until October 2015, when a hearing was scheduled before the High Military Court,\u201d it says. \u201cThe hearing did not take place and no new date has been set.<\/p>\n
\u201cImportant information came out in Katanga\u2019s ICC trial about the role of senior Congolese officials in financing and supporting the militias in Ituri,\u201d states Human Rights Watch. \u201cIt\u2019s critical for national proceedings against those who revealed information at the ICC not to turn into a trial based on political vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Germain Katanga wanted to go back to the Democratic Republic of Congo to rejoin the army or become a farmer, but the judicial authorities have not finished with him. \u201cHe will be tried for acts other than those dealt with by the ICC,\u201d says Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, referring to the International Criminal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":65426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2197],"class_list":["post-25518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-tribunals","ji_location-democratic-republic-of-congo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n