ICC’s second conviction in 12 years has Congolese warlord on receiving end
9 March 2014 5:19 AM IST
The judgment, albeit by a split verdict after a six-year trial, brings some relief to prosecutors who have faced growing criticism, notably for at least five cases that collapsed either pre-trial or pre-verdict because of a lack of evidence.
Two of the three judges found that Katanga had made a significant contribution to a February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro, in a diamond-rich region of northeast Congo, by procuring guns to speed the massacre by ethnic Lendu and Ngiti fighters of some 200 ethnic Hema civilians.
‘The timing of the attack and the methods used - encircling the village while its inhabitants were still asleep, the use of machetes to attack them, and shooting indiscriminately - led the chamber to find that combatants intended to target the civilian population,’ said presiding judge Bruno Cotte.
Two of the three judges found that Katanga had made a significant contribution to a February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro, in a diamond-rich region of northeast Congo, by procuring guns to speed the massacre by ethnic Lendu and Ngiti fighters of some 200 ethnic Hema civilians.
‘The timing of the attack and the methods used - encircling the village while its inhabitants were still asleep, the use of machetes to attack them, and shooting indiscriminately - led the chamber to find that combatants intended to target the civilian population,’ said presiding judge Bruno Cotte.
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