Statement by Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor, during the press conference regarding the arrest of Germain Katanga

Statement by Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor, during the press conference regarding the arrest of Germain Katanga

ICC-OTP-20071019-258 English

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for this opportunity to brief you on yesterday’s surrender of Mr. Germain Katanga to the International Criminal Court’s detention center here in The Hague.

• Yesterday, 18 October 2007, Mr. Germain Katanga, former senior commander of the Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (“FRPI”) in the North East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was surrendered to the Court by the Congolese authorities and transferred to the ICC detention center here in The Hague.
  
• The arrest and surrender of Mr. Germain Katanga was made possible through the cooperation of the DRC authorities and the Prosecutor wishes to express his appreciation to the DRC Government for the process. The Prosecutor would like to also extend his thanks to all the Court’s partners for their assistance and support, in the DRC and elsewhere, including in particular to the UN, which has proven very supportive.
  
• The Prosecutor further wants to acknowledge the excellent and smooth work done by the Registry in the organisation of this surrender. As you now, there are a lot of issues on the agenda of the DRC authorities and of the international community in the DRC at the moment. It is very significant that cooperation with the ICC is remaining a priority. This surrender is the demonstration of their support to our activities.
  
• In our commitment to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes, the Office of Prosecutor presented to the judges of the International Criminal Court on 22 June 2007, evidence against Mr. Germain Katanga, charging him with three counts of Crimes against Humanity and six counts of War Crimes.
  
• The Pre-Trial Chamber issued an arrest warrant on 02 July 2007.
  
• Evidence collected by our office will show how civilians were the target of massive crimes in the course of the conflict in the Ituri region of the DRC.
  
• It will in particular show how Germain Katanga, as head of the FRPI, one of the militia groups operating in Ituri at that time, planned a brutal attack on the village of Bogoro, an ordinary village, which he ordered fighters under his command to “wipe out”.
  
• Thus, on 24 September 2003, members of Germain Katanga’s militia entered Bogoro village and began an indiscriminate killing spree.  At least 200 civilians died. Survivors were imprisoned in a building filled with corpses. Women were abducted and sexually enslaved. The village was pillaged by FRPI militia men.
  
• The Prosecutor alleges that Germain Katanga is responsible for Murders, Inhumane acts and Sexual Enslavement at Bogoro village, constituting Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes. The Prosecution’s evidence will also show that Germain Katanga committed the War Crimes of Cruel Treatment, using Children to Participate Actively in Hostilities, launching an Attack against the Civilian Population and Pillaging the village of Bogoro.
  
• Germain Katanga, also known as “Simba”, was born on April 28, 1978 in Mambasa, Ituri.
  
• In early 2003, Mr Katanga emerged as the top commander of the emerging militia group FRPI.  Later in 2003, he assumed the title of FRPI President.  On 11 December 2004, he was appointed to the rank of General in the DRC Army [as part of a demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration process conducted by the DRC Government with the support of the international community].
  
• He was arrested by the DRC authorities early March 2005 and sent to the CPRK detention centre in Kinshasa where he was detained until his surrender to the Court yesterday.
  
• The DRC has been ravaged by conflicts that have left in their wake countless victims of the most horrific crimes. Violence is ongoing. It is reported that there is forced displacement of people, sexual violence of shocking brutality, and killings.
  
• As the Prosecutor stated yesterday, the surrender of Mr. Germain Katanga shows that the ICC is at work in the DRC. Mr. Germain Katanga is the second person from the DRC in custody, after Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, and he will not be the last. There is no immunity for the crimes under the ICC jurisdiction and other arrest warrants will follow. While continuing our work in our two first investigations, we are selecting our third case in the DRC and the Prosecutor reiterated that perpetrators must know they will be prosecuted.
  
• To do this, we rely on the continuing cooperation of States, to help implement the Court’s arrest warrants, whether they are in the DRC, Uganda, Darfur or anywhere else. This second surrender can only be seen as one step in our different investigations and prosecutions. Other steps must follow and State’s support, as foreseen in the Court’s Statute, remains crucial in this respect. There is no excuse not to execute the Court’s warrants.