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| |  | | Thomas Lubanga Dyilo | | | context : | DRC  | | judgement place : | ICC | | status : | Indicted | | particulars : | Arrested on charges of human rights violations in March 2005; tansferred to the ICC on 17 March 2006; indicted on 28 August 2006; charges confirmed on 29 January 2007; trial to open on 23 June 2008 | | position : | Leader of the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC) |
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| | | | Thomas Lubanga is the leader of a political and military movement, the UPC (Union of Congolese Patriots), a group- with origins in the Hema tribe- created in 2000 by Uganda then allied to Rwanda. Before setting up his own movement, Lubanga was Military Commander of the Congolese Assembly for Democracy – Liberation Movement (RCD-ML), which at the time was a rebel movement with close links to Uganda.
The UPC is accused of massacring civilians in 2002 in Ituri, in particular close to Bunia, the main town in this region of the Eastern Province. Between 2002 and 2003, more than 800 civilians were reported to have been killed by the UPC in the mining town of Mongbwalu and the adjacent villages. People of Lendu origin were particularly hounded. The conflict in Ituri, a region rich in raw materials, witnessed the confrontation amongst various militia groups, resulting in the massacre and displacement of civilian populations. Since December 2004, more than 100’000 people were displaced because of this. The United Nations and various NGO’S have also condemned, on several occasions, the practice of recruiting child soldiers by Thomas Lubanga’s UPC.
Radio Okapi, the radio station of the United Nations Mission in the RDC (MONUC), announced that Mr Lubanga had decreed that each family living in the zones under his control was under the strict obligation to contribute to the war effort by donating be it a cow, money, or even a child who had to join the ranks of the rebels in his militia force. According to the UN Mission, there were in the UPC, children between the age of 10 and 16, brandishing Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Thomas Lubanga was arrested on 19 March 2005 and imprisoned in Makala, Kinshasa. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Congo, the democratic republic of the | | | date of birth : | | | 29.12.1960 | | | last time seen : | | | The Hague (Netherlands) | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 13.03.2008 |
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