Lumbala, former Congolese rebel leader, sentenced to 30 years in prison for war atrocities
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Former Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala was sentenced Monday in France to 30 years in prison for atrocities committed two decades ago during the Second Congo War, in a verdict hailed by rights groups as ending long-standing impunity in Congo.
Lumbala was found guilty by the Paris criminal court of charges of “complicity in crimes against humanity”.
The 67-year-old led the Congolese Rally for National Democracy, a rebel group backed by neighboring Uganda and accused of atrocities against civilians, particularly targeting the Nande and Bambuti ethnic minorities in eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003.
The group was guilty of widespread torture, executions, rape, forced labor and sexual slavery, according to UN reports.
The trial was possible under a French law that recognizes universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity. Lumbala’s case marks the first time that a Congolese political or military leader has been tried for mass atrocities before a national court under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
After the war, Lumbala served as Minister of Foreign Trade in Congo’s transitional government from 2003 to 2005, then a member of Parliament. The Congolese government issued an arrest warrant in 2011 for his alleged support of the M23 rebel group, prompting him to flee to France, where he lived before the war.
“This verdict is historic. For the first time, a national court has dared to confront the atrocities of the Second Congo War and show that justice can come even after decades of impunity,” Daniele Perissi, head of the Democratic Republic of Congo program at TRIAL International, one of the groups representing the civil parties, said in a press release.
“Today, the Court made one thing clear: the architects of mass violence will be held accountable. Neither time nor political power will protect them,” he added.
Congo has been ravaged by a deadly conflict in the country’s mineral-rich east since the 1990s, with more than 100 active armed groups. The conflict further intensified last week when the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group seized a key town in eastern Congo.
