Judges at the International Criminal Court Friday dropped charges against Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana for crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and ordered his release.

But the court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo immediately said his office would appeal and asked that Mbarushimana be kept behind bars, as his former lawyer called it a "fantastic day for the ICC".

"The pre-trial chamber decided by majority, presiding Judge Sanji Mmasemono Monageng dissenting, to decline to confirm the charges in the case of The Prosecutor v. Callixte Mbarushimana," the court said in a statement.

It then ordered Mbarushimana's release.

Identified as the executive secretary of the Democratic Forces of the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group, Mbarushimana faced 13 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in DR Congo's Kivu provinces in 2009.

But a majority of judges found "there was not sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Callixte Mbarushimana could be held criminally responsible for eight counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity," a court statement said.

Although the ICC found there was grounds to believe that FDLR troops committed war crimes, the majority of judges found "Mbarushimana did not provide any contribution to the commission of the alleged crimes, even less a 'significant' one."

But Moreno Ocampo said in a document: "Releasing Callixte Mbarushimana could effectively render any reversal of the decision by the appeals chamber futile due to the court’s inability to secure his re-arrest" or prevent his interference with the investigation.

"A stay of the release is thus appropriate under the circumstances," he added.

The 48-year-old Mbarushimana, a former UN computer technician, was arrested in Paris in October last year and was transferred to the ICC's detention unit in The Hague in January.

Prosecutors accused him of organising a campaign of attacks against Congolese civilians from Paris, by using "international and local media channels".

The attacks perpetrated by the FDLR resulted in 384 civilian deaths between February and October 2009, as well as 135 cases of sexual violence, 521 abductions, 38 cases of torture and five of mutilation, prosecutors said.

Among the allegations were that FDLR members forced civilian men to rape women, mutilated genitals of rape victims, cut open wombs of women and removed their foetuses, and burnt down homes.

Mbarushimana himself always insisted he was innocent and denounced the "barbarity" of military force that has ravaged Africa's Great Lakes region.

His former lawyer Nick Kaufman, who represented him until last week, said Mbarushimana - who was in a yoga class when he got the news - was very happy with the decision.

"It is a fantastic day for Mr Mbarushimana, but also for the ICC as well, because we were beginning to think that this is a court that is biased towards the prosecution," he said.

Asked about Mbarushimana's reaction when he heard, Kaufman said: "I don't think you can publish it."

He said he did not know when Mbarushimana was due to be released.

It id only the second time that the world war crimes court has declined to charge a suspect before the court,. The first case involved Sudanese rebel leader Abu Garda in February 2010.

The Hague-based court, founded in 2002, is the first permanent international criminal tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

(Source:AFP)