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| |  | | Thomas Lubanga Dyilo | | | context : | DRC  | | judgement place : | ICC | | status : | On trial | | particulars : | Arrested in March 2005; tansferred to the ICC on 17 March 2006; confirmation of charges on 29 January 2007; trial began on 26 January 2009 | | position : | Leader of the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC) |
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| | | | Thomas Lubanga was arrested on 19 March 2005 and imprisoned in Makala, Kinshasa.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a sealed arrest warrant against Mr Lubanga on 10 February 2006. The Chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Lubanga had committed the following war crime: conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities. The Chamber also requested that the Democratic Republic of the Congo arrest and surrender him to the Court. The Registrar notified the Congolese authorities of the decision on 14 March 2006, as instructed by the Pre-Trial Chamber.
On 17 March 2006, Pre-Trial Chamber I unsealed the arrest warrant against Mr Thomas Lubanga.
On the same day, Thomas Lubanga was transferred to the International Criminal Court in Kinshasa within the framework of the judicial proceedings as foreseen under the Rome Statute. He was then sent to be detained in the United Nations Detention Unit in Scheveningen in the Netherlands.
Thomas Lubanga was to answer allegations that he committed war crimes, as set out in article 8 of the Statute, in the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since July 2002.
On 20 March 2006, Lubanga made his initial appearance before the ICC.
On 28 August 2006, Lubanga was formally charged with war crimes (enlisting child soldiers). The hearing for the confirmation of the charges was originally scheduled for 28 September 2006, but later postponed to allow the defence more time to prepare. For the first time in international criminal law, victims were able to participate in the proceedings.
The confirmation of charges hearing began on 9 November and ended on 28 November 2006.
On 29 January 2007, the Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed the three charges brought by the Prosecutor against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.
Proceedings before the ICC stalled due to security issues in Ituri. Separately, the resignation of Lubanga’s defence lawyer led to a period of negotiation between the court and his newly appointed lawyer Catherine Mabille over resources allocated to the defence.
The start of the trial was scheduled for 23 June 2008.
On 13 June 2008, Trial Chamber imposed a stay on the proceedings of the case. In the view of the Trial Chamber, there was no prospect that a fair trial could be held because the Prosecutor was unable to disclose a large number of documents containing potentially exculpatory information and information relevant to the preparation of the defence. The Prosecutor had obtained the documents in question from several information providers, in particular from the United Nations, on the condition of confidentiality, and these information providers had refused to consent to their disclosure to the defence and, in most instances, to the Trial Chamber.
In these circumstances, the Chamber ordered the release of Lubanga on 2 July 2008.
The Prosecutor appealed the decision.
On 21 October 2008, the Appeals Chamber, by unanimity, dismissed the appeal and confirmed the decision on the stay of proceedings. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber, by majority, reversed the decision of the Trial Chamber on the release of Lubanga and decided to remand the matter to the Trial Chamber for a new determination of the question.
The trial of Thomas Lubanga began on 26 January 2009 before the Trial Chamber I of the ICC with the opening statements by the Prosecution.
The Prosecution closed its case on 13 July 2009. Over 22 weeks, the Chamber heard 28 witnesses called by the Prosecution. To that date, 99 victims represented by three teams of legal counsel had been authorised to participate in the trial. They were authorised to examine witnesses on specific issues. | |     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) | | | period of charges : | | | 09.2002 - 13.08.2003 | | | judgement period : | | | 26.01.2009 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 25.01.2010 |
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