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ACILA welcomes DR Congo’s prosecution of militia leader Katanga
The Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) has welcomed the decision by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to prosecute militia leader Germain Katanga who is scheduled to be released from prison this week after completing a sentence imposed by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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In a statement, ACILA said that the decision to prosecute Katanga for additional crimes that were not before the ICC will send a strong message to Katanga and other perpetrators of international crimes that impunity will not be tolerated.
Katanga is scheduled to be released from prison this week but Dr Congo Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe told the AFP on Monday that "He will not leave" prison because he was implicated "in other cases just as serious" as the one he was convicted for by the ICC in 2014 -- that of arming an ethnic militia which in 2003 carried out a brutal village massacre, killing some 200 people.
Justice Minister Mwambe said that one of the cases that Katanga will be prosecuted for is his alleged role in the killing of nine UN peacekeepers in the violence-torn Ituri region in the country's northeast in 2005.
A second case, which is in the hands of military prosecutors, involves "contacts" that Katanga "continues to have with other officers who are being prosecuted", AFP reported, quoting Mwambe.
Katanga, 37, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last year by the ICC in The Hague for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder and pillage over the 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro.
Nicknamed Simba ("lion" in Swahili) due to his ferocity, he was convicted of supplying weapons to his militia in the attack in which some 200 people were shot and hacked to death with machetes, but acquitted of enforcing sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
In November, the ICC cut Katanga's sentence after he voiced regret and for good behaviour, and he had been scheduled to complete his prison term on Monday.
ACILA is incorporated under US law as a 501(c) (3) research, education, think tank which aims to contribute to African scholarship through enhanced understanding of international law. It focuses on human rights, anti-corruption, good governance, rule of law, international criminal justice as well as monitors African states' compliance with international instruments.
Additional reporting by AFP