ICC puts release of DR Congo warlord on hold pending prosecution appeal
The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today suspended the decision by the trials chamber to release war crimes suspect Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), pending the determination of the prosecution’s appeal of the verdict.
The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today suspended the decision by the trials chamber to release war crimes suspect Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), pending the determination of the prosecution’s appeal of the verdict.
Mr. Lubanga Dyilo will, therefore, remain under the custody of the ICC, the appeals chamber ruled.
The trials chamber had ordered Mr. Lubanga Dyilo’s release on 15 July, after ruling that an accused cannot be held in preventative custody on a speculative basis, namely that at some stage in the future the proceedings may be resurrected. The prosecution filed an appeal against the oral decision and on 16 July submitted an urgent application for suspensive effect of the appeal.
The appeals chamber found that an immediate implementation of the order to release Mr. Lubanga Dyilo could render the resumption of the trial impossible, should the appeals chamber later rule in favour of the prosecutor’s appeal against the decision to stop proceedings and the oral decision to release the accused.
“In these circumstances, his release could potentially defeat the purpose of these appeals. The Appeals Chamber therefore suspended the implementation of the release of Mr. Lubanga Dyilo pending the determination of this appeal,” the ICC said in a press release.
Mr. Lubanga Dyilo stands accused of having committed, as co-perpetrator, war crimes of enlisting and conscripting of children under the age of 15 into the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, and using them to participate actively in hostilities in Ituri district in eastern DRC between September 2002 and August 2003.
The case was referred to the ICC by the DRC Government in April 2004. Other suspects standing trial in the ICC for alleged offences committed within the context of the DRC conflict are Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui. Bosco Ntaganda has been indicted but remains at large. ICC investigations in the DRC are ongoing.