Statement by the Office of the Prosecutor in response to the apprehension of alleged DRC war criminal Germain Katanga

 At 01:00 [Kinshasa time] today, Germain Katanga, former senior commander of the Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (“FRPI”) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was surrendered to the International Criminal Court’s detention center in The Hague. 

“When Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was surrendered to the Court we said, ‘This is our first case in the DRC, not the last. Today  a second person from the DRC is in custody, and he will not be the last one to face justice in the ICC. We are selecting a third case. The DRC is still engulfed in violence. There is forced displacement of people, sexual violence of shocking brutality, and killings. It must stop. Perpetrators must know they will be prosecuted.  The ICC is at work in the DRC.” said Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

In sealed documents submitted to the judges on 22 June 2007, the Office of the Prosecutor presented evidence against Germain Katanga and charged him with three counts of Crimes against Humanity and six counts of War Crimes. 

“Today we are prosecuting Germain Katanga, leader of a  militia group and who we allege is personally responsible for the brutal crimes his forces committed. His name will forever be associated with the name of Bogoro: an ordinary village, which he ordered fighters under his command to “wipe out”. Hundreds were slaughtered.  Women were forced into sexual slavery " said Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor in charge of the Prosecution of the case.

Between January 2002 and December 2003, more than 8,000 civilians died and more than half a million people were displaced from their homes in Ituri as a consequence of this conflict.  The evidence will show how civilians were the target of massive crimes in the course of the conflict in the Ituri region of the DRC between the FRPI forces of Germain Katanga and other armed militia groups. The evidence will show how Germain Katanga, as the head of the FRPI, planned a brutal attack on the village of Bogoro. 

On the morning of 24 February 2003, members of Germain Katanga’s militia entered Bogoro village and began an indiscriminate killing spree. At least 200 civilians died in the attack. Survivors were imprisoned in a building filled with corpses. Women were abducted and sexually enslaved.  The village was pillaged by the FRPI forces.  Bogoro was razed by the attack.  

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, and for Cruel Treatment at Bogoro village constituting a War Crime. The Prosecution’s evidence will also show that Germain Katanga committed the War Crime of using Children to Participate Actively in Hostilities, the War Crime of launching an Attack against the Civilian Population of Bogoro village and the War Crime of Pillaging the village of Bogoro.  

Germain Katanga, also known as “Simba,” was born on 28 April 1978 in Mambasa, Ituri.  In early 2003, Mr Katanga emerged as the top commander of a group which began calling itself the 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. He was then arrested by the DRC authorities early March 2005, together with 8 eight other militiamen from various Ituri armed groups, in relation to an attack against MONUC peacekeepers in Ituri on 25 February 2005 in which 9 peacekeepers were killed, and sent to the CPRK detention centre in Kinshasa.                                                                                                   

The Office of the Prosecutor began investigating crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June 2004. The Prosecution’s first case in the DRC is against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for the crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under 15 and using them to participate actively in armed hostilities in Ituri. The Court’s Pretrial Chamber I has confirmed the charges against him; he will be the first person to stand trial at the ICC.  

Nicola Fletcher (French), OTP Media Liaison
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Florence Olara, OTP Public Information Coordinator
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