A prosecution intermediary at the International Criminal Court last week denied bribing a witness to tell the court that he had served as a child soldier in Thomas Lubanga Dyilo's DR Congo rebel group.

"This is false," 'intermediary 316' told the court in The Hague, to allegations that he had coached 'witness 15'. In his testimony in March, 'witness 15' said he had agreed to lie to investigators because the intermediary had bribed him. "At the time he had money, he would buy me drinks, and he encouraged me to take action. He would give me a bit of money, and I agreed to lie."

Lubanga has been on trial since January 2009 for allegedly enlisting, conscripting, and using child soldiers in his militia between 2002 and 2003. Earlier this year judges ordered several intermediaries and investigators to answer to several defence witnesses who testified that they were bribed and coached to give false evidence.

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