CASE: Germain Katanga Case, 2017

COURT: International Criminal Court

NATURE: Criminal

By

B. Ratna Supriya,

2015018.
 FACTS
 Katanga is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to an attack on Bogoro, a
village in the Ituri district of the country, in early February 2003.
 Between 1999 and 2003, in Ituri there was a violent conflict between the Lendu, Ngiti and Hema
ethinic groups. The Hema-dominated Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) seized control of Bunia, the
district capital, in August 2002. Bogoro was a strategically important town (where mostly people from
the Hema group lived) on the road between Bunia and the border with Uganda, with a UPC military
camp in the middle of the town.
 Germain Katanga, alias “Simba”, was born on 28 April 1978 in the district of Ituri, in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC). Katanga is alleged to have been the highest ranking leader of the Patriotic
Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI) since the beginning of 2003. On 11 December 2004, he was
reportedly promoted to the rank of General in the Army of the DRC.
 Between January 2002 and December 2003, over 8,000 civilians died and more than half a million
persons were displaced from their homes in Ituri as a consequence of the armed conflict between the
FRPI and other armed militias in the region of Ituri. Between January 2003 and at least March 2003,
the FRPI and the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) were reported to have conducted attacks –
in a systematic or widespread manner – against the civilian population in various parts of Ituri.
 As the highest ranking commander of the FRPI, Katanga was said to have played an essential role in
the planning and the implementation of an indiscriminate attack against the village of Bogoro in
Ituri, on or around 24 February 2003, together with other commanders of the FNI. He was also
believed to have ordered his subalterns to launch this attack.
 On the morning of 24 February 2003, members of Katanga’s militia allegedly entered the village of
Bogoro and launched an indiscriminate attack, targeting mainly civilian members of the Hema ethnic
group. It was alleged that the FRPI had children under the age of fifteen participate in the attack
during which at least 200 civilians were killed. Those who survived the initial attack were locked up
in a building where the bodies of the dead persons had been piled up. Furthermore, women and
young girls were abducted to be turned into sexual slaves. Finally, the FRPI ended up totally pillaging
the village of Bogoro, thus wiping it off the map.
 On 24 February 2003, hundreds of FNI and FRPI fighters
including children under the age of fifteen circled Bogoro and attacked
with machetes, spears, arrows, and heavy weapons including
mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and semi-
automatic weapons.

 UN reported that, the attack aimed to drive the UPC from Bogoro, but
also appeared to be a reprisal operation against the Hema civilian
population for supporting the UPC; the attack was part of a plan by
Lendu and Ngiti rebels to attack predominantly Hema villages in
preparation for an assault on Bunia.

 Germain Katanga was believed to be linked to the attack and as such

they were indicted for numerous crimes during the attack, jointly as
well as in person, including:
1) wilful killing as a war crime under article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Statute;

2) murder as a crime against humanity under article 7(1)(a) of the Statute;

3) directing an attack against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking
direct part in hostilities, as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(i) of the Statute;

4) destruction of property as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(xiii) of the Statute;

5) pillaging as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(xvi) of the Statute, in the knowledge that this crime
would occur in the ordinary course of events;

6) the war crime of using children under the age of fifteen years to participate actively in the
hostilities, under article 8(2)(b)(xxvi) of the Statute.

7) sexual slavery as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(xxii) of the Statute;

8) sexual slavery as a crime against humanity under article 7(1)(g) of the

9) Statute;

10) rape as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(xxii) of the Statute; and

11) rape as a crime against humanity under article 7(1)(g) of the Statute.

Here the statute means Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
 RELATED LEGAL PROVISIONS

 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:

i. Individual principal and accessory criminal

responsibility (Art. 25(3)(a)/(d)).

ii. Crimes against humanity (Art. 7(1)(a), Art.7(1)(g)).

iii. War crimes (Art. 8(2)(a), Art. 8(2)(b)(i), Art.

2(b)(xiii), Art. 8(2)(b)(xsvi), Art. 2(b)(xxii), Art.

8(2)(b)(xxvi)).
 ISSUES RAISED
1. What was Katanga's role in the attack on
Bogoro?
2. Can Katanga be found criminally liable for the
alleged crimes?
1. What was Katanga's role in the attack on Bogoro?

 The Chamber did find beyond reasonable doubt that Ngiti combatants intentionally
directly targetted the predominantly Hema civilian population of Bogoro on 24
February 2003 and established that numerous crimes against humanity and war
crimes - murders, rapes and destruction of property - had been committed.
Furthermore, it was established that child soldiers were used during the attack.
However, no nexus could be identified indicating that Katanga used these children to
participate in the hostilities.

 Considering Katanga's role in the attack, the Chamber found that he - bearing
the titles President of the Ngiti militia and Commander or Chief of Aveba – was a
seasoned and well-known soldier with undeniable military authority. Nevertheless, the
effectiveness of his authority over the supply and distribution of weapons and
ammunition to the militia, his duties as facilitator and negotiator did not, however,
allow the Chamber to find beyond reasonable doubt that Katanga had effective
hierarchical power over all the commanders and combatants of the Ngiti militia in
Walendu-Bindi collectivite.
2. Can Katanga be found criminally liable for the alleged crimes?

 Although Katanga's individual responsibility as principal perpetrator

could as such not be vested, the Chamber did find him responsible as
an accessory to a number of the crimes. Since he had not only been part
of the attacking group which had the common purpose of eliminating
the Hema population of Bogoro but also significantly (through logistical
aid, providing weapons and transportation, enabling the militia to
operate) and intentionally contributed to the commission of the crimes,
knowing of the group's intent, he was found guilty of one count of crime
against humanity (murder) and four counts of war crimes (murder,
attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging).
The Chamber acquitted him of the other charges that he was facing.
COURTS DECISION

 Katanga was found guilty, on 7 March 2014, as an accessory to one

count of a crime against humanity (murder) and four counts of war
crimes (murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property
and pillaging) committed on 24 February 2003 during the attack on
the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the DRC (Democratic
Republic of Congo). Katanga was sentenced to a total of 12 years
imprisonment and the time spent in detention at the ICC – between 18
September 2007 and 23 May 2014 – was deducted from the sentence.

 On 13 November 2015, the Appeals Chamber reviewed the sentence

and decided to reduce it. The date for the completion of the sentence is
set to 18 January 2016. On 19 December 2015, Germain Katanga was
transferred to a prison facility in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) to serve his sentence of imprisonment.