The Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) will accept the applications for asylum of three Congolese witnesses testifying at the International Criminal Court.

Their Dutch lawyer Flip Schüller told Dutch news agency ANP on Wednesday that the IND will not appeal against a ruling of the Amsterdam court in which the service is directed to accept their asylum requests. So far, the IND had refused to do so. Mr Schüller says the ruling will also apply to a fourth Congolese ICC witness.

In their testimony before the ICC the four men have made incriminating statements regarding the alleged involvement of President Joseph Kabila in large scale human rights violations. “They therefore fear for their safety if they had to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said their other Dutch lawyer Göran Sluiter.

The four witnesses were imprisoned in the DRC and ‘lent’ to the ICC on condition they would be sent back. Mr Sluiter said, “But the court has since decided to sacrifice its obligation to the DRC to the protection of the four witnesses.”

(gsh/rk)

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