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

Trial Proceedings
that arranging victims into groups according
to geographical location, rather than according
to the nature of the crimes committed against
them, may not serve the victims’ interests,
particularly given the large number of victims
of rape and other forms of sexual violence
participating in the case.
Decision on LRVs questioning
of an ‘insider’ witness
On 9 September 2011, Trial Chamber III granted
the Victims’ Legal Representatives’ confidential
applications of 26 May 1413 and 29 August
2011 1414 to question what the Defence termed
an ‘insider witness’. 1415 Several specific questions
were rejected due to relevance or security
reasons. 1416 In its ruling, the Chamber found
that the Legal Representatives of Victims had
provided sufficient reasons to demonstrate
the personal interests of the victims in putting
questions to the witness, who the Defence had
indicated would testify on ‘the alleged mode of
liability of the accused and on the alleged crime
of pillage in the Central African Republic’. 1417
While the Defence urged the Chamber to limit
the questioning of the legal representatives on
the grounds that the witness’ testimony did
not impact the personal interest of the victims,
the Chamber explicitly noted that the issues to
which the witness planned to testify ‘according
to the victim application forms received by
the Chamber [appeared] to have directly
affected a significant number of victims’. 1418 The
Prosecution supported the Legal Representatives’
applications. 1419 The Chamber thus granted
the Victims’ Legal Representatives’ request to
question Defence Witness 33, who is expected
to testify during the Defence case in late 2011 or
early 2012. 1420
1413 ICC-01/05-01/08-1458-Conf.
1414 ICC-01/05-01/08-1669-Conf.
1415 ICC-01/05-01/08-1729, para 8.
1416 ICC-01/05-01/08-1729, para 17.
1417 ICC-01/05-01/08-1729, para 16.
1418 ICC-01/05-01/08-1729, para 16.
1419 ICC-01/05-01/08-1712-Conf.
1420 ICC-01/05-01/08-1729.
Applications for release
As described in greater detail in the Protection
section of this <strong>Report</strong>, the accused filed
numerous applications for interim and
provisional release in late 2010 and 2011. 1421
During the period covered by this report, all
applications for release were denied.
Opening statements
Throughout its opening statement on 22
November 2010, the Prosecution stressed the
widespread and devastating nature of the mass
rape perpetrated by MLC forces in the CAR. The
Prosecutor noted that men as well as women
were raped, in particular men in positions
of authority, in order to humiliate them and
damage their standing in the community. He
alleged that ‘the massive rapes were not just
sexually motivated; as gender crimes, they were
crimes of domination and humiliation directed
against women, but also directed against men
with authority …’ 1422 He stated that ‘women were
raped systematically to assert dominance and to
shatter resistance. Men were raped in public to
destroy their authority, their capacity to lead’. 1423
The Prosecutor argued that it was not because
of alleged orders that Bemba was responsible for
these crimes, but rather that he was responsible
for these crimes by virtue of knowingly failing to
control his troops, by failing to prevent, repress
and punish these crimes.
In the words of one witness quoted by the
Prosecutor, Bemba told his troops: ‘You are going
to the Central African Republic which is not your
country. In that country, there are no parents,
or big brothers or little brothers, or any of your
family. When you get there, do the job that I’m
asking you to do. Anyone, anyone you encounter
in the combat zone will be an enemy … because
1421 ICC-01/05-01/08-1387-Conf; ICC-01/05-01/08-1479-
Conf; ICC-01/05-01/08-1501-Conf; and ICC-01/05-01/08-
1639-Conf.
1422 ICC-01/05-01/08-T-32-ENG, p 10 lines 14-16.
1423 ICC-01/05-01/08-T-32-ENG, p 10 lines 18-19.
237