International Criminal Court Issues First Sentence

PARIS - The International Criminal Court in The Hague
sentenced a Congolese warlord to 14 years in prison
on Tuesday for using child soldiers in his rebel army in
2002 and 2003. The sentence was the first imposed by
the court in its history.
Thomas Lubanga, a former psychologist turned
warlord, was found guilty in March of "widespread" use
of girls and boys under the age of 15, recruiting them
in his militia and sending them to kill and terrorize
villagers in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic
of Congo.
The presiding judge, Adrian Fulford, said on Tuesday
that the sentence reflected the need to protect
children. But the sentence was far short of the 30
years the prosecution had requested.
Mr. Lubanga will receive credit for the six years he has
already spent in custody in The Hague, so the
sentence means that he has eight years still to serve.
This may be further reduced because of a common
practice of releasing well-behaved prisoners after they
have served two-thirds of their sentence; in Mr.
Lubanga's case, that would free him in about 3 1/2
years. Judge Fulford made a point of praising Mr.
Lubanga for his conduct and cooperation in court.
The sentence, which came after a halting three-year
trial, confirmed that using children in war is a grave
international crime, and drew renewed attention to
another suspect wanted by the court: Joseph Kony, the
leader of the dwindling Lord's Resistance Army, which
for years abducted children and turned them into
soldiers as it rampaged through at least four Central
African countries.
But the case also underscored the teething problems
at the International Criminal Court, which was created
in 1998 and opened in The Hague in 2002. Though
121 nations recognize its jurisdiction, three major
ones - the United States, China and Russia - do not. Many war crimes trials have been held over the past
15 years in temporary international courts created for
specific conflicts, including those in Rwanda, Sierra
Leone and the former Yugoslavia. But the International
Criminal Court is the first permanent tribunal with a
continuing mandate to investigate atrocities in
countries under its jurisdiction when national courts
are unwilling or unable to act.
In an unusual statement in international proceedings,
Judge Fulford, a Briton who led the panel of three
judges, sharply criticized the former prosecutor, Luis
Moreno-Ocampo, saying he had made a number of
errors, had failed to submit evidence to support his
claims and had allowed his staff members to give
misleading statements to reporters.
In an earlier hearing, the judge said the prosecutor
had failed to bring charges of sexual violence. Human
rights groups said girl soldiers had been widely
abused and Mr. Lubanga's militia had practiced
widespread rape.
Twice during the trial, Judge Fulford halted the
proceedings and ordered Mr. Lubanga released
because of prosecutors' errors in dealing with evidence
and refusal to follow orders from the bench, which he
said were making a fair trial impossible.
Both times, appeals judges ordered that the trial be
resumed and the errors corrected.
One of the three judges in the panel, Elizabeth Odio
Benito of Costa Rica, dissented from the sentencing
decision on Tuesday, saying 14 years was too lenient
in proportion to the harm done to the victims and their
families. She singled out sexual violence and said the
sentence should have been 15 years.
Although a number of nations - including Austria,
Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland and Serbia - have
agreed to accept convicts from the court for
imprisonment, it was not clear where Mr. Lubanga
would serve his sentence. He may be kept in The
Hague during possible appeals by his lawyers or by
the prosecution.The court also allows for reparations for victims or
their communities, but that issue was not addressed
on Tuesday. Human rights groups that help child
soldiers return to civilian society have said the
children's problems linger for years because of the
profound effects of wartime violence and the
widespread use of drugs to make them obedient and
fearless. Several groups run reintegration programs in
Africa, where child soldiers have been used in conflicts
in at least half a dozen countries over the past decade.

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