afrol News, 9 July - Congolese militia chief and war crimes suspect, Thomas Lubanga will remain in custody pending the final ruling on an appeal by prosecutors against his release, International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have said.

Mr Lubanga, the founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots (UCP), was arrested in 2006 accused of recruiting and using child soldiers in Congo Kinshasa (DRC) during the country's bloody five-year civil war, which ended in 2003.

ICC judges had last week ordered the release of Mr Lubanga, saying he could not get a fair trial because prosecutors were withholding crucial evidence that could help his defense clear his name.

Mr Lubanga’s defense had applied for his release, saying there were no legal grounds and justification for his detention as his case could not proceed without adequate evidence.

The prosecution had refuted an order vowing to appeal saying his release could spark yet another war and inflict pain on his alleged victims.

ICC judges said last week they had given full consideration to the fears of Mr Lubanga's alleged victims, who have warned that freeing the former warlord could ignite violence in Congo's volatile Ituri region.

The proceedings against Mr Lubanga were suspended 16 June when the Trial Chamber determined prosecutors failed to reveal more than 200 documents to the defense that have the potential to prove his innocence.

Mr Lubanga who is the first suspect to stand trial before ICC and his case is the first international war crimes trial focusing solely on the use of child soldiers since the court began its operations in 2002, his release came as a major blow to prosecutors who were hoping his trial would comfort victims.

The office of chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said it was confident the trial would nevertheless begin in September.

The court took custody last week of its highest-profile suspect to date Congolese former rebel warlord and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, arrested in Belgium in May.

Mr Bemba is charged on multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including rape and murder stemming from interventions of his militia in neighboring Central African Republic in 2002 to 2003.

Humanitarian NGOs say inter-ethnic fighting and violence involving militias in the country's Ituri province centred on control over one of the most lucrative gold-mining territories in the world, has claimed some 60,000 lives going back to 1999.

The ICC was set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court. The court which currently has 106 member states 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.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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