- Title: CONGO DEMOCRATIC-FILE/LUBANGA Jailed Congolese warlord's appeal decision looms
- Date: 30th November 2014
- Summary: BUNIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE - MAY 2003) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) WOMAN WITH MULTIPLE HEAD AND BODY WOUNDS SUFFERED DURING FIGHTING BETWEEN RIVAL ETHNIC GROUPS LYING ON FLOOR OF MAKESHIFT CLINIC ELDERLY WOMAN WHOSE ARM WAS HACKED OFF SITTING ON FLOOR DISTRESSED BOY WHOSE LEG WAS HACKED OFF LYING ON FLOOR HEAVILY BANDAGED BOY LYING ON FLOOR BUNIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE - JUNE 2003) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (MUTE) ARMED UPC SOLDIERS ON TRUCK LUBANGA ADDRESSING CROWD CROWD LISTENING BUNIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE - JUNE 2003) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LUBANGA ACCOMPANIED BY UPC SOLDIERS WALKING THROUGH VILLAGE WAVING TO CHEERING CROWDS VARIOUS OF CHEERING WOMEN AND MEN UPC SOLDIER WITH ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LAUNCHER, VILLAGE PEOPLE DANCING IN FRONT OF HIM LUBANGA STANDING ON TABLE ADDRESSING CROWD LITTLE BOY IN CROWD CHEERING CROWD LISTENING, UPC SOLDIER WATCHING BUNIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE - JUNE 2003) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND HEAVILY ARMED MEN WALKING CONVOY OF FRENCH TANK AND ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS, PART OF INTERNATIONAL FORCE DEPLOYED UNDER UNITED NATIONS MANDATE TO PROTECT BUNIA VARIOUS OF DISARMED UPC SOLDIERS LYING ON GROUND WITH THEIR HANDS TIED BEHIND THEIR BACKS FRENCH SOLDIERS GUARDING DISARMED UPC SOLDIERS (SOUNDBITE) (Kiswahili) CONGOLESE WARLORD, THOMAS LUBANGA, SAYING: "There are fools everywhere and over there, there are a few who have been arrested from our side. We will explain to the French it is the fault of the boys (armed local gangs)." THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (FILE - JULY 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BUILDING
- Embargoed: 15th December 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA8U8RRMCESNRPVVGN9R3CON1WH
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is due to announce on Monday (December 1) the result of jailed Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga's appeal against a 14 year jail sentence for recruiting child soldiers.
Lubanga was found guilty in March 2012 of abducting boys and girls under the age of 15 and forcing them to fight in a war in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003.
At least 60,000 people are thought to have been killed in that chapter of a wider Congolese war.
Lubanga's Union of Congolese Patriots fought against militias from the Lendu ethnic group, including the Congolese Popular Army and the Patriotic Resistance Force in the Ituri region.
The conflict was part of a wider war in Congo in which several million people are thought to have died.
Some Congolese were disappointed with Lubanga's sentence, which compares to the 50 years handed down in May 2012 by another court in The Hague to former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes in Sierra Leone.
But Lubanga's sentence was shortened because of his good behavior in the face of the prosecutor's failure to disclose some evidence and giving misleading statements to the media, the presiding judge said.
The ICC's Appeals Chamber is due to deliver its judgment in his appeal against conviction and his sentence at 1530 gmt on Monday (December 1).
The Hague-based court was set up to punish and discourage the world's worst crimes through a new system of international justice, but its critics say it has moved too slowly and failed to put its most important suspects on trial. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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