/
RSS Feed
A French court has sentenced a former rebel leader and politician from the Democratic Republic of Congo to 30 years in prison after convicting him of complicity in crimes against humanity committed more than two decades ago.
Roger Lumbala, 67, once headed a Ugandan-backed rebel movement accused of widespread atrocities during the Second Congo War. Judges found him guilty of ordering or aiding and abetting acts including torture, inhumane treatment, summary executions, rape constituting torture, sexual slavery, forced labour and looting.
Lumbala, who was living in France when he was arrested nearly five years ago, has consistently rejected the authority of the Paris court. He did not attend the trial, which opened last month, but was present in the dock on Monday to hear the verdict.
He previously served as a minister in DR Congo’s transitional government between 2003 and 2005 and later became a member of parliament. Years later, Congolese authorities issued an arrest warrant accusing him of backing the M23 rebel group, now active in eastern DR Congo, prompting him to flee to France.
The Second Congo War, which lasted from 1998 to 2003, involved nine countries and numerous armed groups and is estimated to have caused between two and five million deaths.
At the centre of the case was Lumbala’s leadership of the Rally of Congolese Democrats and Nationalists (RCD-N), which prosecutors say carried out a brutal campaign known as “Erase the Slate” between 2002 and 2003. The operation targeted members of the Nande and Bambuti communities in Ituri and North Kivu, who were accused of supporting a rival militia.
A UN investigation later described the campaign as involving “premeditated operations using looting, rape and summary execution as tools of warfare”.
The case was brought under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows French courts to prosecute crimes against humanity committed abroad. Five non-governmental organisations, including Trial International and the Clooney Foundation for Justice, supported the proceedings and assisted survivors in giving evidence.
Trial International said 65 survivors, witnesses and experts testified during the trial. In a statement after the verdict, two survivors, David Karamay Kasereka and Pisco Sirikivuya Paluku, said the ruling marked an important step toward justice.
“We were scared but came all the way here because the truth matters. For years, no one heard us,” they said. “We would have preferred to face Roger Lumbala, to look him in the eyes. But this verdict marks a first step toward reclaiming pieces of ourselves that were taken from us.”
During the hearings, Mr Kasereka described how his father and neighbours were tortured and killed by fighters under Lumbala’s command, according to the media. Mr Paluku, now a nurse, told the court how rebels robbed and injured him, killed his uncle and raped his friend’s wife, AFP reported.
“We hope this will serve as a lesson to those who continue to bring grief to the people of Congo, especially in Ituri,” Mr Paluku told Reuters.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence. Lumbala’s lawyers, who have 10 days to appeal, said the 30-year term was excessive.
Eastern DR Congo, rich in minerals, has been plagued by violence for more than three decades, with repeated peace efforts failing to end the conflict. Several other militia leaders, including Thomas Lubanga, Germain Katanga and Bosco Ntaganda, have been convicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed in the region.
Human rights groups welcomed Monday’s ruling as a landmark moment. “This verdict is historic,” said Daniele Perissi of Trial International. “For the first time, a national court has confronted the atrocities of the Second Congo War and shown that justice can prevail even after decades of impunity.”
