KINSHASA (AFP) — The suspension of war crime proceedings against former Democratic Republic of Congo militia chief Thomas Lubanga Dyilo "does not mean the end of the matter," a court official said here Tuesday.
"The procedure is not finished. It has been suspended for technical reasons, valid reasons," said Clerk of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Silvana Arbia, adding that the decision indicated the importance accorded to the rights of the defence.
Lubanga is accused of abducting minors under 15 and using child soldiers in attacks by the armed wing of his Union of Congolese Patriots between September 2002 and August 2003 in the war-torn DR Congo.
His trial had been due to start on June 23. On June 11, however, the ICC said it was postponing the opening of the case with a lawyer for the accused asking that the trial be declared "impossible" due to a dispute over disclosure of certain pieces of evidence.
Two days later, the judges said they were placing a moratorium on proceedings.
Arbia added that she hoped that a solution to the legal problems in the case would be found.
If the proceedings were suspended permanently, however, she said the ICC would see that it looked at how to compensate victims.
The court has said that it will decide on June 24 whether Lubanga should be freed.
According to humanitarian NGOs, inter-ethnic fighting and violence involving militias in the country's Ituri province -- centred on control over one of the most lucrative gold-mining territories in the world -- lies behind some 60,000 deaths going back to 1999.
The conflict has also created tens of thousands of refugees, they say.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
