1) Thomas Lubanga was the first person tried and convicted by the ICC for the war crime of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers under the age of 15 in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Second Congo War. 2) The prosecution argued that Lubanga actively recruited and used child soldiers as the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots rebel group, while the defense claimed Lubanga played no role in creating the military forces and tried to demobilize child soldiers. 3) Lubanga was ultimately convicted based on evidence that he addressed child soldiers at a training camp and used them as bodyguards, but the trial was complex with witness issues and suspensions over evidence disclosure problems.

1. PROSECUTOR V.
THOMAS LUBANGA DYILO
SHASHWATA SAHU
ADVOCATE

2. Background of the case
● Thomas Lubanga is the first person who was tried and convicted by the ICC.
● He was the president of the Union of congolese Patriots (the UPC)
● The UPC was one of the main actors In the second Congolese war, the conflict between the
Hema and the Lendu Ethnics Group in Ituri, which took place between 2001 & 2004.
● Lubanga was charged with a War Crime of conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers
under the age of 15 in the War.

3. ● The UN special representative on children in Arm conflict testified as an except during the trial, she
argued that the use of child soldiers is particularly abusive since children under the age of 15 have
an under-developed notion of death.The lake of the concept of death makes them fearless in battle.
● Lubanga was arrested in March, 2005 & transferred from the DRC to the ICC a year later, in
March 2006.
● The prosecution, the defense & civil society, all had very different perspectives on the trial & on
Lubanga's role.

4. Prosecution Argument
● The prosecution argument was to bring out the evil nature of the crime of using child soldiers.
● Preocecuter Moreno - Ocampo could not gather enough evidence to charge Lubanga with other crimes, such as
sexual violence, even thoug it was widely known that young girls had been used as sex slaves by the UPC.
● The prosecution focused on the leadership role of Lubanga in line with the control theory.
● It presented Lubanga as a military leader of a rebel group & argued that he was in charge of UPC and its
military wing, the FPLC.
● The prosecution submitted that the group had a common plan to gain power of the gold-mining parts of Ituri,
& that it used child soldiers for that purpose.

5. ● According to the Prosecution, Lubanga took part in recruiting child soldiers, trained them, and used them in
the armed conflict.
● Whether children joined voluntarily or parents entrusted them to the UPC or the FPLC, was irrelevant,
argued the prosecution.
● At the start of the trial, the prosecutor Ocampo stated that the children were launched into battle zones where
they were instructed to kill everyone regardless of whether their opponents were military or civilian,
regardless of whether they were men, women or children. They were forced to kill all Lendu because the
Lendu were the enemy.

6. Defense Argument
● We have seen that the focus on criminal responsibility may single out perpetores. The defense used this
exact argument as a line of defense in the case and attempted to show that Lubanga Was only a small fish
and that he was selectively picked and charged in place of those who should have been charged .
● It claimed that Lubanga never recruited or used child soldiers.
● He was presented a political leader that played no active role in the creation of the UPC military forces,
and did in no way take part deliberately in the common plan to recruit minors.
● According to the defense, Lubanga did all he could to demobilize the minors, who were present among
the rants the FPLC, and also alleged that prosecution witnesses where coached by intermediaries of the
ICC's prosecution investigators.

7. ● Civil Society Organizations & Victims groups had yet another perspective, they
complained that sexual and gender based crimes had not been included in the charges
● For this reason, legal representatives of 27 participating victims filed a brief to broaden the charges
against Lubanga.
● The Trial Chamber agreed by majority that it would consider adding new charges, but the Appeals
Chamber overruled the Trial Chamber.
● It said, only the prosecutor may add new charges.

8. The Trial & the Judgement
● The trial started with a bang when the first witness, a former child soldier, withdrew his statement.
● The witness had previously told the Court that he and his friends got abducted by UPC soldiers when they
walked home from school.
● But when pressed by the presiding Judge, the witness claimed that his statement was false.
● In the end 129 victims testified during the trial.
● The trial was also suspended twice .
● First because the prosecution had not disclosed all exculpatory information.
● The second time, because the prosecution refused to disclose the identity of an intermediary out of concern
for the intermediary's safety.
● Both times, the trial Chamber decided that this made it impossible to maintain a fair trial
● Lubanga was ultimately convicted by the Trial chamber

9. ● If found there was sufficient evidence to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Lubanga was involved in a
recruitment drive for the UPC rebel group, & that he personally used children and his bodyguards.
● However, the Trial Chamber rejected all testimony of the child soldiers to relied only on testimonies given by
UN experts.
● It also based its decision on video footage- showing Lubanga addressing children at a UPC draining camp, who
were his bodyguards & clearly under the age of 15.
● The majority did not reflect sexual violence in the war crimes conviction.
● Judge Odio Benito, however, submitted that the crime of using children in hostilities includes not only support
roles, but also the use of boys and girls for purposes of sexual violence other ill treatment.
● Thomas Lubangs was ultimately sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment. He has been charged with committing
war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of ICC.

10. Conclusion
● It is the first case of lCC.
● This case involved complex assessment in relation to the scope of the charges, the responsibility of Lubanga,
and the fairness of proceedings.
● One of the policy objectives of the prosecution was to shift the focus from children with arms to children who
are affected by the arms.
● Many assumed that this would be a fast trial since it focused only on one defendant & war crime charges. But
the proceedings turned out to be much more difficult than expected.

11. THANK YOU!
SHASHWATA SAHU