DRC war crimes suspect in ICC prison
2013-03-23 08:31
The Hague - Congolese war crimes suspect Bosco Ntaganda,
dubbed "The Terminator", was behind bars at the International
Criminal Court on Saturday, after turning himself in to face charges ranging
from murder and rape to using child soldiers.
The first ever suspect to hand himself in to the ICC,
Ntaganda is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly
committed during his years as a warlord in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo.
He walked into the US embassy in Rwanda on Monday and asked to
be sent to the Hague-based court.
Ntaganda was allegedly involved in the brutal murder of at
least 800 people in villages in the volatile east of the DR Congo. He is also
accused of using child soldiers in his rebel army and keeping women as sex
slaves between September 2002 and September 2003.
He was taken into ICC custody in Kigali and flown to
Rotterdam airport.
The ICC tweeted shortly after that "Bosco Ntaganda
arrived to the ICC detention centre", under Dutch police escort in The
Hague's seaside suburb of Scheveningen.
'Good day for victims in the DRC'
Ntaganda, born in 1973, will become the fifth African in the
ICC's custody. He will face judges for the first time on Tuesday at 10:00 GMT,
after a medical check-up.
Judges will verify his identity and the language in which he
will be able to follow the hearings and he will also be informed of the charges
against him, the court said.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda welcomed news of Ntaganda's
transfer, saying: "This is a good day for victims in the DRC and for
international justice.
"Today those who are alleged to have long suffered at
the hands of Bosco Ntaganda can look forward to the prospect of justice taking
its course," she said in a statement.
US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed a major step for
"justice and accountability".
"Now there is hope that justice will be done," he
said in a statement.
Ntaganda's arrival in The Hague "will also send a
strong message to all perpetrators of atrocities that they will be held
accountable for their crimes," Kerry said.
Set up just over a decade ago, the ICC is the world's only
permanent criminal court to try genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes.
Geraldine Mattioli-Zeltner of Human Rights Watch said the
arrival of Ntaganda at the ICC "will be a major victory for victims of
atrocities in eastern Congo and the local activists who have worked at great
risk for his arrest".
The expected trial will show the ICC's importance in
"providing accountability for the world's worst crimes when national
courts are unable or unwilling to deliver justice", she added.
Defeat
Once a commander of the Democratic Republic of Congo's M23
rebels, Ntaganda is believed to have crossed into Rwanda at the weekend along
with several hundred fighters loyal to him after they suffered a humiliating
defeat at the hands of a rival rebel faction.
He will arrive in The Hague almost four years after the
signing of a 23 March 2009 peace agreement with Kinshasa that integrated his earlier
rebel group into the regular army and paved the way for him to become a
Congolese general.
The failure of that deal sparked a mutiny by the
rebels-turned-soldiers, who set up the M23.
The rebels have been fighting the Congolese army in the
restive and mineral-rich North Kivu province since April.
DRC and United Nations investigators have both accused
Rwanda of backing the M23, a claim Kigali has always denied.
Analysts said Ntaganda's transfer for trial would not have a
major impact on peace efforts for eastern DRC.
"Bosco's arrest won't bring peace to the eastern Congo,
but Bosco's arrest does spell a victory in the battle against impunity and the
dismantling to one of the barriers to a peace process in the country,"
said Jason Stearns, author of several books on the region.
