Gender Report Card on the International Criminal ... - YWCA Canada

OTP Situations and Cases
cash was allegedly transferred from an airplane to
Ntaganda’s premises on 3 February 2011, his men
reportedly transported more than 450 kilos of gold
to the plane. Later, the Congolese authorities seized
this gold and arrested four passengers, from Nigeria,
France and the USA. Ntaganda later denied any
wrongful conduct and maintained he had actually
tried to stop a gold smuggling deal. 599 It is reported to
be highly unlikely that anyone will further investigate
the smuggling affair or search his premises because
Ntaganda is too powerful. It has been reported that
he has been accumulating wealth in the Kivus and
maintains the rank of general in the Congolese army.
The DRC government has continued to refuse to arrest
Ntaganda, claiming that he is a crucial figure in the
peace process. In August 2011, Ntaganda was seen
dining at the Le Chalet restaurant and playing tennis
at the Hotel Caribou. He is allegedly the co-owner of a
Goma nightclub. 600 Ntaganda has been referred to as
‘the most powerful man in eastern Congo’. 601
On 12 May 2011, 77 Congolese, American and
International Organisations sent a letter to US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her and
the USA government to appoint a new Special
Envoy for the Great Lakes region and to increase
diplomatic pressure on the DRC Government to arrest
Ntaganda. 602 Despite various attempts by NGOs and
civil society activists to motivate States and the UN
to increase political pressure on the DRC to fulfil
its obligations under international law and hand
Ntaganda over to the ICC, at the time of writing this
<strong>Report</strong> he remains at large.
599 ‘Bosco Ntaganda: The Terminator’s golden business’, The
International Justice Tribune, 2 March 2011, available
at ,
last visited on 25 October
2011; ‘Congo’s east: Still smuggling’, The Economist, 10
February 2011, available at , last visited on 31 October 2011.
600 ‘Eastern Congo is a prisoner of the state of nature’, The
Daily Star, 27 August 2011, available at , last visited on 25 October 2011.
601 ‘Eastern Congo is a prisoner of the state of nature’, The
Daily Star, 27 August 2011, available at , last visited on 25 October 2011.
602 ‘ATS: Letter to Secretary Clinton from Coalition of
77 Organizations’, A Thousand Sisters, 14 May 2011,
available at , last visited on 25 October 2011.
The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and
Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui
Germain Katanga (Katanga) and Mathieu Ngudjolo
Chui (Ngudjolo) are the alleged highest military
commanders of the Force de resistance patriotique
en Ituri (FRPI) and the Front de nationalistes et
integrationnistes (FNI), respectively. In July 2007, Pre-
Trial Chamber I issued a Warrant for the Arrest of both
Katanga and Ngudjolo for charges of crimes against
humanity and war crimes. Katanga, who was already
in detention in the DRC at the time the Arrest Warrant
was issued, was surrendered to the custody of the
Court on 17 October 2007. Ngudjolo was arrested in
the DRC and transferred into the custody of the Court
in February 2008.
Katanga and Ngdjolo face identical charges arising out
of an attack on Bogoro village in the district of Ituri on
24 February 2003. The cases were joined by the Pre-
Trial Chamber on 11 March 2008. Trial proceedings in
the case began on 24 November 2009. A full discussion
of the case can be found in the <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong>
2008, 2009 and 2010, and recent developments in the
case are discussed in the Trial Proceedings section,
below.
The Prosecutor v. Callixte Mbarushimana
The most recent case in the DRC Situation, and the
first case arising out of the Kivus investigation, is The
Prosecutor v. Callixte Mbarushimana. Mbarushimana is
the fourth person to be arrested by the ICC in relation
to the DRC Situation. He was arrested in Paris, France
on 11 October 2010, in accordance with a sealed Arrest
Warrant issued by the ICC on 28 September 2010, for
suspected involvement in crimes against humanity
and war crimes committed in the eastern Kivus region
of the DRC. Significantly, the Arrest Warrant against
Mbarushimana included the broadest range of charges
of gender-based crimes against any ICC suspect
to date, including rape, torture, mutilation, cruel
treatment, other inhumane acts and persecution. 603
603 For a more detailed analysis of the Arrest Warrant
against Mbarushimana, see further <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong>
2010, p 94-97.
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