On February 21, after ten days of trial, a mobile court held in Baraka, DR Congo, found four senior military officers guilty of rape and terrorism as crimes against humanity. Five lower level soldiers were convicted of rape and inhumane acts for the New Years Day mass rape of over fifty women and girls in the nearby village of Fizi.

By Kelly Askin, Baraka (*)

The four highest level officers, including Lt. Col. Kibibi Mutware, were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. The other soldiers received either 10 or 15 year sentences.

Congolese courts are complementary to the ICC and are able to prosecute war crimes suspects.

The mobile court, implemented by the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), has been operational for nearly 18 months and has jurisdiction over both military and civil cases. It was designed by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) to act as a mobile gender justice court in remote areas of South Kivu, which have no access to justice. The mobile court complements the efforts of the ICC in these areas, where some of the worst sexual violence cases in the world take place. The ABA ROLI project is funded by the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA). While focused on gender crimes, the court can also hear non-gender cases. Last year, the court held three civilian and six military courts, adjudicating 186 cases, 115 of which were for rape crimes.

The Fizi mobile court operated as a military court and applied the Congolese Penal Military Code - which, in Article 169, incorporates Article 7 of the ICC’s Rome Statute.

A panel of five military judges, the military prosecutor general, five defense lawyers and civil party lawyers adjudicated the joint trial, which was held in a makeshift outdoor courtroom in a town without running water and limited electricity.

Each day, hundreds of villagers showed up to stand in the hot sun for hours on end, fascinated and hopeful at seeing their first trial ever.

While international and local processes remain inadequate for the millions of lives lost and destroyed in DRC - combined, they cover crimes committed against tens of thousands of victims.

International observers of the Fizi rape trial found that fair trial standards were met.

Formal justice in Congo is rare. Tens of thousands of serious crimes remain unredressed in a country where impunity is the norm and accountability the exception. Eastern Congo has been ravaged by over a decade of war and its police and justice systems remain in shambles. Yet this trial demonstrates that when there is political will to investigate and prosecute atrocities in DRC, there is local ability to do so. Officials in Congo hate having their country known as the rape capital of the world. Consequently there is willingness to allow sex crimes to be prosecuted.

It also appears that the decision to investigate, arrest and prosecute the crimes was influenced by the consistent campaign for gender justice in DRC by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström and US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, along with the recent Security Council resolutions demanding justice for victims of wartime sexual violence.

The speed of the investigation, arrests, prosecution and convictions - all within two months - resulted from international participation, pressure and outrage, as well as the mobile gender justice court’s existence.
When the local government and judicial processes, the United Nations, NGOs, donors, media and international actors work together, even those leading, ordering or directing attacks can be tried and convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. This is possible in places devastated by war and largely operating without a functioning rule of law system. With the ICC going after the highest level accused often out of reach of domestic jurisdictions - and the local courts, including mobile courts, going after lower level suspects - accountability can become the norm, and impunity the exception.

*Dr. Askin conceived of and designed the mobile gender justice court project for South Kivu, DRC.

Download the print version of the International Justice Tribune 123 (PDF file)

Subscribe to the International Justice Tribune

Earlier IJT editions:

• International Justice Tribune, 122 (16 February 2011)
• International Justice Tribune, 121 (2 February 2011)
• International Justice Tribune, 120 (19 January 2011)
• International Justice Tribune, 119 (14 December 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 118 (1 December 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 117 (17 November 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 116 (2 November 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 115 (20 October 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 114 (4 October 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 113 (21 September)
• International Justice Tribune, 112 (8 September 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 111 (25 August 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 110 (14 July 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 109 (30 June 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 108 (16 June 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 107 (2 June 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 106 (19 May 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 105 (5 May 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 104 (21 April 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 103 (7 April 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 102 (24 March 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 101 (10 March 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 100 (24 February 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 99 (10 February 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 98 (27 January 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 97 (13 January 2010)
• International Justice Tribune, 96 (23 December 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 95 (9 December 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 94 (25 November 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 93 (11 November 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 92 (28 October 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 91 (14 October 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 90 (30 September 2009)
• International Justice Tribune, 89 (16 September 2009)