Facebook Twitter Google+ Wordpress YouTube RSS Channel Newsletters

Women Can, Women Act, Women Change!

Ge

En

Ru

Congo court hands life sentence to warlord for murder, sexual violence

Category: Gender based violence 
2019-11-21

A court in Democratic Republic of Congo handed down a life sentence on Tuesday to one of the country's most notorious warlords for crimes against humanity including murder and sexual violence, lawyers in the case said.

 

The court, in the eastern city of Bukavu, also found Congo's government liable for failing to protect victims of the Raia Mutomboki militia and ordered it to pay compensation to more than 300 victims.

 

Despite repeated initiatives by the government to address sexual violence in eastern Congo's conflict zones, where civil wars around the turn of the century resulted in millions of deaths, experts say rape is still deployed by armed groups and army soldiers as a weapon of war.

 

The judges convicted Raia Mutomboki chief Frédéric Masudi Alimasi, who goes by the name Kokodikoko, along with two allies for murder, torture, enforced disappearances, sexual violence and enslavement committed over several months last year.

 

United Nations investigators say his forces were responsible for abducting and repeatedly gang raping at least 17 women in a cave in September 2018. He was captured by Congo's army in April.

 

"The victims we supported during this trial are happy that the crimes they suffered were recognised by the conviction of their tormentors," Charles Chubaka Chichura, the victims' chief lawyer, told Reuters.

 

The court ordered that the state pay the victims compensation as well as medical fees. TRIAL International, a Geneva-based non-governmental organisation that observed the proceedings, praised the verdict but questioned whether compensation would ultimately be paid.

 

"Precedents have shown that the state was unwilling to compensate victims, even when the judges have ordered it," said Chiara Gabriele, a legal adviser for the group.

 

Raia Mutomboki, which means "angry citizens" in Swahili, was formed in 2005 to fight Rwandan Hutu militias in eastern Congo and is one of the most powerful of the dozens of armed groups in mineral-rich areas bordering Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.


Source 

Previous Page 

Webmaster

 

Announcements

Beyond the Shelter

The youth exhibitions and installations

Women’s Fund in Georgia is honored to invite you to 2016 Kato Mikeladze Award Ceremony

 

Video archive

Research on Youth Views on Gender Equality

 

Gender policy

Three women vie to become next Paris mayor

With a nod from parliament, Greece gets first female president

Barack Obama: Women are better leaders than men

 

Photo archive

Swedish politicians visit in WIC

 

Trafficking

To end slavery, free 10,000 people a day for a decade, report says

Interpol rescues 85 children in Sudan trafficking ring

Mother Teresa India charity 'sold babies'

 

Hot Line

Tel.: 116 006

Consultation Hotline for victims of domestic violence

Tel.: 2 100 229

Consultation Hotline for victims of human trafficking

Tel.: 2 26 16 27

Hotline Anti-violence Network of Georgia (NGO)

ფემიციდი - ქალთა მიმართ ძალადობის მონიტორინგი
eXTReMe Tracker