INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT - The Hague Appeal on trial and conviction by Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to uphold the verdict against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, This was the first time the ICC signed off an appeals judgement. But interest has waned, as if the world has forgotten about Lubanga and the endemic conflicts in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Over two and a half years after he was convicted for three war crimes, the International Criminal Court’s Appeals Chamber convened to rule on the appeals of the former Congolese politician-styled warlord. His trial was flawed and unfair, he argues. It runs contrary to the Prosecution’s appeal. They wanted his “manifestly disproportionate” 14-year sentence raised, without explicating with how much. 3179 days after Lubanga was brought to The Hague, the trial that dealt with child soldiers in the mass violence that plagued the Congolese Ituri region in the early 2000s, ends with an anti-climax: a sober, legalistic and collegial review of the trial chamber’s first ever verdict and sentence. Flanked by four colleagues, Judge Erkki Kourala monotonously read out a summary of the 193-paged appeals judgement and 50-paged sentencing judgement.. The prosecutions appeal against leniency of sentence of 14 years failed and the defendants appeal against conviction failed. Sir Leslie R Angell Proceedings Observer International Criminal Court and European Court of Human Rights The Hague, Netherlands (Report prepared and posted by Justice in Conflict)
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 10:11:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015