14 Mar 2012

ICC / LUBANGA WRAP

Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was found guilty today by the International Criminal Court of “conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate in hostilities.” ICC / FILE / UNTV

Posted at: March 14, 2012 6:13 pm

Duration: 02:46

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: ICC / LUBANGA WRAP 
TRT: 2.46
SOURCE: ICC / UNICEF / UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 14 MARCH 2012, THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS / NEW YORK CITY

SHOTLIST:

14 MARCH 2012, THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS

1. Wide shot, International Criminal Court judges entering chamber and bowing 
2. Wide shot, ICC judges taking their seats
3. Wide shot, court chamber 
4. Pan from ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Fulford, Presiding Judge 
"The Chamber concludes that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is guilty of the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the FPLC and using them to participate actively in hostilities within the meaning of Articles 8(2)(e)(vii) and 25(3)(a) of the Statute from early September 2002 to 13 August 2003."
6. Med shot, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo listening to verdict
7. Med shot, Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Fulford, Presiding Judge
"Mr. Lubanga will remain in custody. And that concludes this hearing."
9. Close shot, Lubanga listening
10. Zoom out, judges and others in chamber stand up
11. Soundup, court chamber guard, "All rise. Levez-vous."
12. Wide shot, chamber with everyone standing as door to judges' chamber is closed
13. Wide shot, Lubanga exiting court chamber

FILE - NOVEMBER 2005, RUTSHURU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

23. Med shot, reintegration ceremony of child soldiers being demobilized from militia groups

FILE – UNICEF - DATE AND LOCATION UNKNOWN

15. Various shots, children with weapons
16. Med shot, boys running in field chanting training song

14 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

17. Wide shot, beginning of press conference
18. Cutaway, journalist
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Renzo Pomi, Representative of Amnesty International at the United Nations
"Today's verdict is then a big step forward in the struggle against impunity perpetrators have enjoyed for crimes under international law, including the enlisting and conscripting of children to use in armed conflict." 
20. Cutaway, journalist
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Param-Preet Singh, Senior Counsel, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch: 
"Lubanga's conviction also brings into stark relief the fact that his co-accused Bosco Ntaganda the former chief of UPC military operations remains free. Indeed, rather than face arrest, Bosco has been promoted to deputy commander of military operations for the Congolese army."
22. Cutaway, journalist
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Alison Cole, Legal Officer, International Justice, Open Society Justice Initiative"
"The conviction today of Thomas Lubanga, the former president of the UPC militia group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for child soldiers, sets a clear precedent that such crimes are not beyond the reach of the law."
24. Cutaway, journalist
25. Wide shot, end of press conference

STORYLINE:

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today found Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of recruiting child soldiers in a landmark ruling that was announced in The Hague.

The verdict is the first ever to be issued by the 10-year-old ICC, which is the world's first permanent international court set up to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford read out the decision of the Court's trial chamber on the Lubanga case.

"The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is guilty of the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years" into his militia the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) to participate in hostilities in Eastern Congo from early September 2002 to August 2003.

A separate sentencing hearing for Lubanga will be held at a later date and he will remain in the court's custody.

According to the ruling, the evidence – presented over 204 days of hearings – proved that Lubanga, as President of the Union des patriotes congolais (Union of Congolese Patriots) (UPC) and Commander-in-Chief of its military wing, the FPLC, together with his co-perpetrators, collaborated to build an army that included child solders to maintain political and military control over Ituri, in Eastern Congo.

Representatives of human rights organizations underlined the importance of today's ruling during a press conference convened by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), which includes 2,500 civil society organizations in 150 different countries working to strengthen international cooperation with the court,

Amnesty International's UN representative Renzo Pomi called it "a big step forward in the struggle against impunity perpetrators have enjoyed for crimes under international law, including the enlisting and conscripting of children to use in armed conflict."

Param-Preet Singh, Senior Counsel, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch said, however, that Lubanga's conviction brought into "stark relief the fact that his co-accused Bosco Ntagandathe, former chief of UPC military operations, remains free."

She noted that rather than face arrest, Bosco has been promoted to deputy commander of military operations for the Congolese army.

Alison Cole, Legal Officer in the Open Society Justice Initiative, stressed that the ruling set "a clear precedent that such crimes are not beyond the reach of the law."

The ICC can try cases involving individuals charged with war crimes committed since July 2002. The DRC is one of seven situations under investigation by the Court, along with Central African Republic (CAR), Côte d'Ivoire, the Darfur region of western Sudan, Libya, Uganda and Kenya.

At present, 14 other cases are before the Court, three of which are at the stage of trial.
 
The defence is entitled to appeal today's conviction within 30 days of receiving the French translation of the Judgment.