afrol News, 3 July - International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have ordered for the release of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga after prosecutors failed to provide critical information to the defence lawyers. Mr Lubanga is held detained in The Hague, Netherlands.

Mr Lubanga, the founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots (UCP), was arrested in 2006 and was accused of recruiting and using child soldiers in Congo Kinshasa (DRC) during the country's bloody five-year civil war, which ended in 2003. Mr Lubanga, who has been in custody for two years in The Hague, denied these charges.

"The only correct course is to order the release of the accused because a fair trial of the accused is impossible and the entire justification for his detention has been removed," the three panel judges at The Hague court said.

ICC judges said they had given full consideration to fears of Mr Lubanga's alleged victims after those warned that his release could cause another conflict in the Congo's volatile Ituri region.

"The chamber particularly stresses that it has given full weight to the fears of victims and possible consequences to victims as a result of a decision to release the accused," the judges wrote in their ruling.

However they agreed his release would be delayed for five days pending prosecution appeal to the case.

The prosecution has said the trial should be allowed to continue because the United Nations had now agreed to let the judges view most of the material, but presiding Judge Mr Adrian Fulford has rejected strict UN conditions.

Mr Lubanga is the first suspect to stand trial at the court and his release comes as a major blow to prosecutors. His case would also have been the first international war crimes trial focusing solely on the use of child soldiers.

The militia leader's case was suspended last month after the court ruled that prosecutors inhibited his defence team by refusing to share documents that could help establish Mr Lubanga's innocence.

The ICC was set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court. It was designed to end the need for various ad hoc war crimes courts, including chambers created to deal with war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia and genocide in Rwanda. At least four million people are believed to have died during the five-year DRC conflict.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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