Paris: Former Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala was given a 30-year prison sentence for complicity in crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-2003. Lumbala, accused of being one of the masterminds of atrocities in the Second Congo War, had been on trial since last month after he was arrested in France in 2020.
According to France24.com, the trial presented a historic opportunity for human rights organisations to challenge the impunity enjoyed by warring parties in eastern DR Congo, where fighting continues despite a "peace" agreement ratified in Washington in early December. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Lumbala, 67. Court President Marc Sommerer announced the verdict, stating that Lumbala was found guilty of ordering or aiding and abetting various crimes, including torture, inhumane acts, summary executions, rape constituting torture, sexual slavery, forced labour, theft, and pillage.
Lumbala, who briefly served as trade minister and ran for president in 2006, maintained that he was merely a politician without any soldiers or volunteers under his command. The court sessions over the past month recounted horrific acts, including rape used as a weapon of war, sexual slavery, forced labour, torture, mutilation, summary executions, systematic looting, extortion, and the plundering of resources, such as diamonds.
The atrocities were allegedly committed during Operation "Erase the Slate" in 2002-2003, conducted by the Rally of Congolese Democrats and Nationalists (RCD-N), Lumbala's rebel group. The RCD-N was supported by Uganda and allied with the MLC group of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the current Congolese Minister of Transport. Testimonies during the trial included harrowing accounts of violence and abuse, with victims predominantly from the Nande or Bambuti Pygmies ethnic groups, accused by attackers of siding with a rival faction.
The Second Congo War, which ran from 1998 to 2003, involved nine countries and resulted in over 5 million deaths, many from hunger and disease. While some individuals have faced trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes committed during the war, Lumbala's trial marked the first instance of a Congolese national being tried before a national court in connection with the conflict. Lumbala was arrested under France's "universal jurisdiction" law, enabling French courts to try crimes against humanity committed abroad.
Lumbala refused to testify, challenging the legitimacy of the French court, but attended the verdict. Yasmine Chubin, legal director of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, involved in the trial as a civil party, highlighted the importance of national courts in such cases. This approach could facilitate the arrest of suspects beyond those targeted by the ICC, tightening the net and leaving perpetrators with fewer places to hide.
Pisco Paluku Sirikivuya, a 50-year-old nurse from Mambasa in eastern Congo, travelled to Paris to testify about the RCD-N rebels' actions, which included robbery, injury, the killing of his uncle, and the rape of his friend's wife in Congo's Ituri province. Expressing his satisfaction with the verdict, he stated, "We have waited so long. We hope that this will serve as a lesson to those who continue to bring grief to the people of Congo, and particularly to Ituri."