DRC: Ituri Court Must Prosecute Gravest Crimes

D.R. Congo: Ituri Court Must Prosecute Gravest Crimes
Donors and DRC Authorities Should Increase Funding for Local Courts

(Brussels, September 2, 2004) - Judges in the newly restored court in the
Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) must
intensify efforts to prosecute serious human rights crimes, Human Rights
Watch said in a briefing paper released today. Since 1999, armed conflict
among rebel factions, local ethnic groups, and foreign fighters in the
northeastern region has resulted in numerous atrocities that have gone
unpunished.

On August 17, the court in Bunia, Ituri's capital, handed down its most
serious conviction so far. Human Rights Watch welcomed the court's
prosecution of Commander Rafiki Saba Aimaible, the former security
chief of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an armed group in Ituri
responsible for serious crimes. Commander Rafiki was found guilty of
arbitrary arrests aggravated by torture, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

With support from the European Commission, the Ituri court resumed its
work six months ago after having been closed since May 2003, when its
judges had to flee deteriorating security conditions. However, the new
investigative judges assigned to the court have largely limited
prosecutions to minor crimes and have not investigated the more serious
human rights abuses. In one case, the leader of one armed group was
charged on the basis of theft, but the prosecutor failed to bring charges of
murder, rape, or torture committed by people under the suspect's direct
command, which had been documented by Human Rights Watch. The
court has lacked the political will to take on these more serious cases.

National courts, such as the tribunal in Bunia, will need to complement the
work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which started
investigating war crimes in the DRC on June 23 - the first-ever
investigation by the new international court. The ICC will focus on the
most senior perpetrators, and is unlikely to be able to try lesser-ranking
individuals who also carried out abuses. These perpetrators will need to be
tried by national courts.

"If the new court in Bunia is to be effective, it must prosecute the gravest
crimes as well as minor offenses," said Pascal Kambale, counsel for
Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "The ICC will
focus on the high-level perpetrators, so the national courts must ensure
that other suspected human rights criminals don't get off the hook."

In November, the European Commission and other donors initiated a six-
month project to help restore the criminal justice system in Bunia. This
short-term funding helped judges and investigative judges start working
again years after the court had been closed, but many serious problems
remain. There is no capable police force able to carry out investigations,
and there is a lack of protection for witnesses who come forward to testify.

The Human Rights Watch briefing paper, "Making Justice Work:
Restoration of the Legal System in Ituri, DRC," highlights the strengths
and weaknesses of the justice program in Ituri, seen by many as the
potential test case for rebuilding the largely defunct justice system
throughout the DRC. It calls international donors and the DRC transitional
government to provide longer-term funding and support to the criminal
justice system.

"The Ituri justice program is a foundation for rebuilding the national
justice system," said Kambale. "If the government and international
donors are serious about ending the cycle of violence and securing justice
for victims, they must ensure there is more funding and political will to
make this happen."

Human Rights Watch has documented serious crimes in the conflict that
ravaged Ituri since 1999, including ethnic massacres, rape, and torture. A
local conflict between Hema and Lendu ethnic groups allied with national
rebel groups and foreign backers, including Uganda and Rwanda, has
claimed over 60,000 lives since 1999, according to United Nations
estimates. In the past eight months, fighting has decreased in the area,
though human rights abuses continue.

"The conviction of Commander Rafiki is a good start for the court in
Ituri," said Kambale. "We need to see more trials focusing on these
serious human rights crimes to help end the cycle of violence and ensure
that victims see justice being done."

For more information on the state of the judicial system in the DRC,
please see Democratic Republic of the Congo: Confronting Impunity,
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/02/congo7230.htm.

For more information on justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
please see http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=justice&c=congo