Constitution of Trial Chamber II in the case of The Prosecutor v.Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui

Situation: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Case: The Prosecutor v.Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui

On 24 October 2008, the Presidency of the International Criminal Court constituted Trial Chamber II composed of Judges Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, Fumiko Saiga and Bruno Cotte. The Presidency also referred the case of The Prosecutor v Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui to the new Chamber and transmitted the full record of the proceedings before Pre-Trial Chamber I to Trial Chamber II, including the decision confirming the charges.

Background

On 17 October 2007, the Congolese authorities surrendered and transferred Mr Germain Katanga, a Congolese national and alleged commander of the Force de résistance patriotique en Ituri [Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri] (‘FRPI’), to the International Criminal Court (ICC). On 6 February 2008, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, alleged commander Front des nationalistes et intégrationnistes (FNI)was surrendered and transferred to the Court.

Pre-Trial Chamber I decided, on 10 March 2008, to join the cases of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and The Prosecutor v. Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui.

The confirmation of charges hearing took place from 27 June to 16 July 2008. The Pre-Trial Chamber found , on 26 September 2008, that there was sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui jointly committed during and after the attack against the village of Bogoro, on or about 24 February 2003, the war crimes of: using children under the age of fifteen to take active part is the hostilities, by using them personally as body guards and as combatants, directing an attack against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, wilful killings, destruction of property, pillaging and sexual slavery and rape.

The Chamber decided also to confirm the charges of crimes against humanity of murder, rape and sexual slavery, as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population in the Ituri region.

24.10.2008 - Decision constituting Trial Chamber II and referring to it the case of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui
ICC-01-04-01-07-729

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