Bosco Ntaganda was a senior military commander of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) and its armed wing, the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), during the conflict in Ituri, a district in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2002 and 2003. On July 8, 2019 Trial Chamber VI of the International Criminal Court in The Hague found him guilty of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, five of the counts being crimes against humanity and thirteen war crimes. On November 7, 2019 the Chamber sentenced him to a joint term of 30 years of imprisonment. The Appeals Chamber confirmed the convictions and the sentence on March 30, 2021, which made both final. He is serving the sentence in Belgium.
The case was the first in the Court's history in which a conviction rested on sexual slavery, and the sentence was the heaviest the Court had imposed up to that point. It was also a case in which the accused came to the Court himself: he surrendered in March 2013, years after the Court first issued a warrant for him.
Ituri has roughly 18 ethnic groups, among them the Lendu and the Hema. The Trial Chamber found that the UPC was formalized in September 2002 and that the FPLC was its military wing. The UPC's president was also the FPLC's Commander-in-Chief. The Chamber found that the UPC/FPLC was involved in at least one non-international armed conflict throughout the period charged, from about August 6, 2002 to about December 31, 2003. Ugandan forces were present in the area and Rwanda gave support, but the Chamber found that neither amounted to overall control, and the conflict was therefore not classed as international.
Mongbwalu, a town in the gold-mining area, was the seat of the Kilo-Moto gold mining company. Sayo was the headquarters of Lendu fighters. The Chamber found that the UPC/FPLC tried to take Mongbwalu around November 9, 2002 without success and captured it around November 20, 2002, following a plan devised by Ntaganda.
The Chamber found that from September 2002 Ntaganda held the post of Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations and Organisation of the FPLC, and that on December 8, 2003 he was appointed Chief of Staff. It found that his role was determinative in the ability of the UPC/FPLC to build an armed group capable of driving the Lendu from certain areas, and that he was one of the group's key military leaders.
The judges found that Ntaganda and two other senior members of the leadership agreed on a common plan to drive all Lendu civilians out of the targeted localities, and that crimes committed on the ground by soldiers were attributable to those co-perpetrators. The Chamber found the UPC/FPLC pursued a policy of attacking and driving out Lendu civilians, together with people perceived as non-Iturians. It convicted Ntaganda as a direct perpetrator for parts of three crimes, including one murder and the related persecution, and as an indirect co-perpetrator for the rest, under article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute.
The Chamber grouped most of the convicted conduct into two military operations. The first, in the Banyali-Kilo area, ran from about November 20 to December 6, 2002. It covered the assaults on Mongbwalu, Sayo, Nzebi, Kilo and the Appartements camp. The second, in the Walendu-Djatsi area, ran from about February 12 to February 27, 2003 and covered coordinated assaults on villages including Lipri, Tsili, Kobu, Bambu, Buli, Gola, Jitchu and Nyangaray.
The Chamber did not find every alleged incident proven, but it found that at least part of the charges was proven beyond reasonable doubt on each of the 18 counts and entered convictions on all of them. The sentencing decision records that he was convicted of the murder of at least 74 people and the attempted murder of five more, and that murder was committed on a large scale. The Chamber's convictions list place names across both operations, among them Mongbwalu, Sayo, Nzebi, Kilo, Kobu, Bambu, Sangi, Jitchu, Buli, Lipri and Tsili. The conduct of the FPLC against children under 15 inside its own ranks was charged separately and covered the period from August 6, 2002 into 2003, including the assault on Bunia in May 2003.
The Court first indicted Ntaganda in 2006. On March 22, 2013 he arrived at the Court, having voluntarily surrendered to its custody. Time spent in detention from that date counts toward the sentence. His trial opened on September 2, 2015 before Trial Chamber VI. The trial ended in 2018 after 248 hearings. The Prosecution called 80 witnesses, the Defense 19 and the victims' legal representatives 3, and the record held 1,791 items of evidence. A total of 2,129 victims were authorized to participate in the proceedings through legal representatives.
The Chamber's judgment was unanimous. The 18 counts on which it entered convictions, as the Chamber names them, were:
murder and attempted murder as a crime against humanity and as a war crime (counts 1 and 2);
intentionally directing attacks against civilians as a war crime (count 3);
rape of civilians as a crime against humanity and as a war crime (counts 4 and 5);
rape of children under the age of 15 incorporated into the UPC/FPLC as a war crime (count 6);
sexual slavery of civilians as a crime against humanity and as a war crime (counts 7 and 8);
sexual slavery of children under the age of 15 incorporated into the UPC/FPLC as a war crime (count 9);
persecution as a crime against humanity (count 10);
pillage as a war crime (count 11);
forcible transfer of the civilian population as a crime against humanity (count 12);
ordering the displacement of the civilian population as a war crime (count 13);
conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years into an armed group, and using them to participate actively in hostilities, as war crimes (counts 14, 15 and 16);
intentionally directing attacks against protected objects as a war crime (count 17);
destroying the adversary's property as a war crime (count 18).
Trial Chamber VI set a sentence for each count and a joint sentence of 30 years of imprisonment. The individual terms ranged from 8 years for ordering the displacement of the civilian population to 30 years each for murder and attempted murder and for persecution. The Chamber found that the conditions for life imprisonment were not met, found no mitigating circumstances to which it gave weight, and noted that its findings on his culpability were high for the crimes of both operations. His orders and his personal involvement in the first operation increased his culpability. The Chamber deducted the time he had spent in detention since March 22, 2013.
Both sides appealed the judgment of July 8, 2019, and Ntaganda appealed the sentence. On March 30, 2021 the Appeals Chamber confirmed the conviction decision by majority, rejecting the appeals of the defense and of the Prosecutor. It rejected his argument that his right to a fair trial had been violated and found that the Trial Chamber had not gone beyond the charges. It upheld the findings on the attack against a civilian population, on indirect co-perpetration, and on his knowledge and intent. The Prosecutor's appeal, which concerned the meaning of "attack" for protected objects, was rejected with one judge dissenting. Several judges wrote separate opinions, and one would have set aside the conviction in so far as it rested on indirect co-perpetration.
The Chamber also rejected all twelve grounds of appeal against the sentencing decision and confirmed the 30-year joint sentence. The conviction on five counts of crimes against humanity and thirteen counts of war crimes, and the sentence, became final on that date.
On March 8, 2021, Trial Chamber VI issued its reparations order and set the total at USD 30,000,000, in collective reparations with individualized components. Because Ntaganda was found to be without means, the order is implemented through the Trust Fund for Victims. Trial Chamber II later reviewed the order, and on July 14, 2023 it assessed his liability for reparations at USD 31,300,000. The Chamber estimated about 7,500 direct and indirect victims of the assaults and about 3,000 direct and indirect victims of the crimes against children recruited into the group. Judges asked court officials to keep monitoring his finances for assets. On November 1, 2024 the Appeals Chamber confirmed the addendum to the reparations order with one amendment.
In August 2023 the Court's victims and reparations section was tasked with identifying beneficiaries and assessing their eligibility, with a deadline of December 31, 2025.
On December 14, 2022 Ntaganda was transferred to Belgium to serve his sentence, under article 103 of the Rome Statute and an enforcement agreement between the Court and Belgium. The Court, which relies on states to enforce its sentences, thanked Belgium for its voluntary cooperation.
The Chamber found that not every alleged incident was proven, and it recorded that some killings during operations in Mongbwalu were committed by Hema civilians who were not members of the force. Ntaganda challenged the fairness of the trial and the findings on his role on appeal, and the Appeals Chamber rejected those grounds. One appeals judge would have set aside the conviction in so far as it rested on indirect co-perpetration.
August 6, 2002: start of the period covered by the charges.
September 2002: UPC formalized; Ntaganda holds the post of Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations and Organisation.
About November 20 to December 6, 2002: first operation in the Banyali-Kilo area.
About February 12 to February 27, 2003: second operation in the Walendu-Djatsi area.
May 2003: assault on Bunia.
December 8, 2003: appointed Chief of Staff.
2006: first indictment.
March 22, 2013: surrenders and arrives at the Court.
September 2, 2015: trial opens.
July 8, 2019: convicted on 18 counts.
November 7, 2019: sentenced to 30 years.
March 8, 2021: reparations order, USD 30,000,000.
March 30, 2021: Appeals Chamber confirms conviction and sentence.
December 14, 2022: transferred to Belgium.
July 14, 2023: liability assessed at USD 31,300,000.
November 1, 2024: Appeals Chamber confirms the reparations addendum with one amendment.