Former Congo rebel leader Lumbala sentenced to 30 years over wartime atrocities

capital of republic of senegal, Senegal — Ex-Congolese renegade leader Roger Lumbala was sentenced mon in anatole france to 30 years in prison over atrocities committed two decades ago during the Second Congo War, in a verdict that rights groups hailed as overcoming long-standing impunity in the Congo.

Lumbala was found guilty in a Paris criminal court on charges of “complicity of crimes against humanity.” A lawyer for Lumbala, who has ten days to file an appeal, called the sentence excessive.

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 committed widespread torture, executions, rape, forced labor and sexual slavery, according to U.N. Reports. Deal

David Karamary Kareka, 41, one of the victims testifying at the trial said his father and several of his neighbors, all of the Nande ethnic group, were tortured and killed by Lumbala’s men.

The Congolese Rally for National Democracy specifically targeted the Nande people, which they suspected of supporting a rival militia.

Kareka described how one of his neighbors had his ear cut and was forced to eat it. When he refused, they cut his right forearm before shooting him.

“I was just a teenager at the time,” Kareka said. “The consequences still affect me to this day,” he added, describing regularly breaking down.

Pisco Sirikivuya Paluku, 50, another victim who testified, said the rebels stormed his uncle's home, where he was staying, and looted all his belongings and cash. They then forced him, at gunpoint and under beatings, to perform hard labor for three weeks, including building huts, slaughtering others’ livestock, and carrying the stolen goods to the rebels base.

“These atrocities took place over 20 years ago and I had already lost hope, so I am happy that justice was finally served ” Paluku told the after the verdict.

Lumbala claimed the French court had no legitimacy to try him, and was absent for most of the proceedings. He was present only for trial's first day and for the verdict, thus missing the victims' testimonies.

The trial was possible under a French law that recognizes universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity. Lumbala's case marks the first time a Congolese political or military leader has been sentenced for mass atrocities before a national court under the universal jurisdiction principle.

Leaders of armed groups that committed widespread atrocities during the Second Congo War have faced little accountability, some even later serving in high positions within the army or in government, a pattern that has fueled recurring violence and undermined trust in the state, according to analysts.

After the war, Lumbala served as minister of foreign trade in Congo’s transitional government from 2003 to 2005 and later as a member of parliament. The Congolese government issued an arrest warrant in 2011 over his alleged support of the M23 rebel group, prompting him to flee to France, where he had previously lived before the war.

“Today the court made one thing unmistakably clear: architects of mass violence will be held to account. Neither time nor political power will shield them,” Daniele Perissi, head of the Democratic Republic of Congo program at TRIAL International, one of the groups representing civil parties, said in a news release.

Several victims of sexual violence also testified during the trial.

“Their voices were central to the pursuit of accountability for sexual violence crimes, which remain widely under-prosecuted in conflict settings,” said Yasmine Chubin, Legal Director at the Clooney Foundation for Justice, another group representing the victims.

Phillipe Zeller, one of Lumbala's lawyers, called the verdict excessively harsh and questioned the French court's legitimacy.

Congo has been wracked by deadly conflict in its mineral-rich east since the 1990s with more than 100 active armed groups. The conflict further escalated last week when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group seized a key city in eastern Congo.

The rebels’ latest offensive came despite a U.S.-mediated peace agreement signed last week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.

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Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo contributed to this report.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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