The ICC orders the review of the amount of reparations awarded to the victims of Bosco Ntaganda

Twenty years after the crimes, the victims of Bosco Ntaganda will still have to wait to obtain reparations.

(illustrative image) ANP/AFP/File

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

A dramatic change at the International Criminal Court in the case of reparations for the victims of Bosco Ntaganda's crimes.

The militiaman guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in eastern DRC in 2002 and 2003 is serving a 30-year prison sentence.

Eighteen months ago, a trial chamber assessed the amount of damage caused by the former military leader of the Patriotic Front for the Liberation of Congo at $30 million.

But the appeal chamber asked the judges to review their copy.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in The Hague,

Twenty years after the crimes, the victims of Bosco Ntaganda will still have to wait to obtain reparations.

The trial judges had valued

.

But the lawyers of certain victims and those of the condemned had appealed this decision.

And the Appeals Chamber partly agrees with them. 

According to the estimate at first instance, between 1,100 and 100,000 people were victims of crimes committed by the militia under the orders given by Bosco Ntaganda.

But for the Appeals Chamber, this range is far too imprecise to be able to correctly assess the amount of reparations. 

The trial judges will therefore have to review their order.

But they have no time to do so.

Whatever the final amount,

will not be able to pay the bill.

The amount, which could be reviewed, will therefore be paid by the Fund for the benefit of victims, an organization linked to the Court.  

This Fund has started to put in place the logistics for future reparations in eastern DRC, but in its last report to the judges, it indicated that it had difficulty contacting some of the victims forced to flee the ongoing fighting in Ituri.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• ground floor

• International Justice