International Criminal Court, Hague, Set for its First-ever Verdicts

03/01/12

The verdicts scheduled to be delivered on March 14 against Thomas Lubanga have thoroughly considered the case and found that all options have been exhausted save a judgment by the International Criminal Court binding on all participating nations.


Thomas Lubanga pleaded not guilty, but the court found that he had actively recruited children as soldiers and sent them to the war front in Congo's civil conflict. The case will be creating precedents for the world.

While civil rights groups welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court to finally start doing something, they also criticized that the prosecutors only narrowed the issues down to the employment of child soldiers while bypassing the issue of mass rapes committed by Lubanga's soldiers.

The trial that had commenced in January 2009 was beset with legal debacles as prosecutors often disagreed with judges over orders of confidentiality regarding submitted evidence.

Thomas Lubanaga led the Union of Congolese Patriots and its armed wing which fielded child soldiers in the Ituri region of Congo.

Though Lubanga had been initially convicted in 2006 and was the first person to be taken into custody of the world's first war crimes tribunal, the hearing was postponed because prosecutors refused to submit evidence in favor of Lubanga.

The bone of contention between the judges and the prosecutors was the confidentiality of the evidence that could have helped Lubanga. The prosecutors held that the evidence was obtained from UN staff under conditions of confidentiality and could not be handed over to defense lawyers. Judges saw bias in the situation.

After five months of confrontation the UN sources agreed to relax the rider of confidentiality and the trial seemed to start on its way. However, again in July 2010 the trial was halted upon the prosecutors refusing to execute a court order to submit some evidence to Lubanga's defense team.

The court has indicted several other high-profile personalities since 2006. Some big names waiting in queue to be tried and sentenced by the International Criminal Court include former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, while some like the Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi have expired.