Pierre Mbodina Iribi, an imprisoned ex-member of the Congolese intelligence services, is a former witness before the International Criminal Court (ICC). He has been in jail in Kinshasa for more than ten years. In spring 2011, he went to The Hague along with two politicians from Ituri, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to testify for the defence of Germain Katanga. \u201cI regret testifying before the ICC,\u201d he says now, speaking from Ndolo military prison in Kinshasa. \u201cI don\u2019t want my testimony to be used any more against anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the two other witnesses, Floribert Njabu and Sharif Manda, Pierre Mbodina Iribi openly accused the Kabila r\u00e9gime in his testimony of planning the February 24, 2003 attack in Bogoro, for which Germain Katanga was sentenced to 12 years in jail. After testifying, the three witnesses tried unsuccessfully to get political asylum in the Netherlands. After three long years of legal procedures, they were deported to Kinshasa at the beginning of July 2014, nearly a year ago. Since then \u201cI think about it every day,\u201d sighs Pierre Mbodina Iribi. \u201cYes, really every day. If I were asked again, I would refuse, I would not testify.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the reasons for his bitterness is that before they went to The Hague, the ICC judges ordered the Registry to monitor the detention conditions of the three witnesses and how procedures against them in the DRC were evolving. But \u201cwith regard to the Court, it seems there is a sort of unspoken gap between words and actions,\u201d says Pierre Mbodina Iribi. \u201cThe ICC has given priority to its relations with the DRC, to the detriment of us little people, the small fry.\u201d When questioned about this, the Registry says laconically that it \u201cfulfilled its obligations\u201d. Ghislain Mabanga, lawyer for the three witnesses, disputes this. \u201cClearly none of the promises made by the Court have so far been respected,\u201d he says. In Kinshasa, an ICC official visits them regularly but \u201che has no decision making power\u201d, says the lawyer.<\/p>\n
Legal proceedings against the detainees have apparently not advanced at all, apart from an order committing them to trial, communicated to them on October 1, 2014. \u201cThey talk about insurrection, recruitment of child soldiers, but I have never been questioned nor told the official charges against me,\u201d says Pierre Mbodina Iribi. \u201cI want to be tried, but our lawyers wanted to see the case file and found nothing, because there isn\u2019t one.\u201d As Pierre Mbodina Iribi is speaking, shouting can be heard in the background. \u201cIt\u2019s the prisoners,\u201d he explains. \u201cA prisoner has fallen down, but there is no warning system, so to get someone to come you have to shout and make a lot of noise.\u201d The three prisoners have complained about their prison conditions, but nothing has changed. \u201cHere people are put into categories,\u201d Pierre Mbodina Iribi continues. \u201cAnd we are singled out, filed as anti-Kabila activists. For those who are against the regime, there are restrictions. They harass our visitors, for example. Others are labelled as pro-regime, and they get privileges.\u201d<\/p>\n
When they were returned to the DRC, Sharif Manda and Pierre Mbodina Iribi got drugs for their diabetes. But the medicines provided by the ICC ran out in two weeks. As for Floribert Njabu, \u201che needs surgery for his eyes\u201d,\u00a0says lawyer Mabanga, who plans to inform the ICC judges. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Pierre Mbodina Iribi, an imprisoned ex-member of the Congolese intelligence services, is a former witness before the International Criminal Court (ICC). He has been in jail in Kinshasa for more than ten years. In spring 2011, he went to The Hague along with two politicians from Ituri, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to testify […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":64788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[562],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2197],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-icc","ji_location-democratic-republic-of-congo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n