The war crimes trial of a Congo militia leader was thrown into chaos today when a former child soldier withdrew damning evidence he had earlier given to the court.
The boy, who was not identified, originally said he was dragged from the streets and into the army of warlord Thomas Lubanga when he was 10 or 11.
His sudden about face raised fears of witness tampering at the hearing in The Hague He was the first witness in the case of Lubanga, who is charged with recruiting youngsters under age 15 and sending them into battle in the Ituri region of eastern Congo in 2002-2003. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 30 years imprisonment.
Lubanga’s trial is the first since the court was created in 2002 as the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal, and the proceedings are being closely watched for the precedents they are setting. It is the first case to be tried solely on the illegal use of child soldiers.
The boy had told the court that armed troops plucked him off the street while he was on the way home from school and sent him to a military camp. At the time, he was in the fifth grade in the town of Fataki.
After a lunch break, deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda tried to pick up the story by repeating the earlier testimony and asking if that were correct.
“No,” he replied. “That is not what I intended to say.” In a complete turnaround in his testimony, he said workers of a non-profit organisation had spoken to him and his friends at school. “They took our addresses and told us they could help us. After that we went back home,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.
He was not allowed to continue.
After a brief recess, Ms Bensouda told the court she wanted to investigate what caused the witness to reverse his earlier account, and sought a review of the protective measures to ensure his safety, even after he returns to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While in court, his voice and image were distorted in video transmissions to the public gallery and on an internet feed. He sat behind a screen while testifying to protect his identity.
The rocky start deepened concerns over issues of fairness. The trial already had been delayed more than six months because of a dispute over the disclosure of evidence given in confidence by the United Nations and other agencies in Congo.
In his original evidence, the witness said the soldiers who seized him and his friends were fighters from Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots.
“They said the country was in trouble and that young people must mobilise to save the country,” he said. “I said that we were still very small.” Lubanga’s lawyers argue that he was arrested and sent to The Hague because he was a political opponent of President Joseph Kabila.
AP