The International Criminal Court convicted a Congolese politician, Jean-Pierre Bemba, of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Monday, finding him culpable for a devastating campaign of rape, murder and torture in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.
A
panel of three judges convicted Mr. Bemba of murder and pillaging, and
defined the large-scale rape by his soldiers as a crime against humanity
and as a war crime.
Other
international courts, including the United Nations tribunals for war
crimes in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, have issued convictions
for rape as a war crime and a crime against humanity — but Monday was
the first time the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, had done so.
Largely
because of pressure from human rights advocates and women’s groups,
organized or mass rape is increasingly being recognized and prosecuted
as a weapon of war, not as a byproduct of it.
The
conviction of Mr. Bemba — who was far from the battleground while his
militia committed its crimes — was noteworthy in a second respect: It
was the first time the court had applied the principle of command or
superior responsibility. The judges found that Mr. Bemba was culpable
for having “failed to prevent” the crimes committed by his subordinates,
and for doing nothing to punish the offenses.
The
judges on the panel were all women. The presiding judge, Sylvia Steiner
of Brazil, read a summary of the verdict, noting crimes like the gang
rape of women and girls as young as 10. Some were assaulted in the
presence of family members and other children, she said.
Mr. Bemba’s case was taken up by the International Criminal Court at the request of the government of the Central African Republic,
where the justice system lacks the ability to prosecute him. The
country does not have a witness protection program that could shield
rape victims and help ensure their cooperation.
Advocacy
groups applauded the conviction for its focus on large-scale rape,
among them Physicians for Human Rights. “The stigma and shame of this
crime is moving where it belongs: to the perpetrator rather than the
victim,” the group said in a statement.
GĂ©raldine
Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human
Rights Watch, said the verdict offered “a stark reminder to commanders —
military and civilian — that they are responsible for preventing and
halting any attacks by their forces on civilians and for punishing
violators.”
She
said the case also highlighted the use of rape as a weapon of war, and
she called for additional prosecutions of war crimes perpetrators in the
Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr.
Bemba is only the third person — but the most senior — to be found
guilty in the history of the court. A millionaire businessman from a
prominent family, Mr. Bemba was vice president before going into exile
after losing a 2006 election. His arrest in 2008, during a visit to Belgium, was a shock in Congo. Many Congolese had regarded him as untouchable. Mr. Bemba tried to claim diplomatic immunity.
Source- New York Times
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