2 convicts transferred to prison in DRC: ICC

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo and Germain Katanga have been transferred to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to serve their sentences of imprisonment, the International Criminal Tribunal (ICC) stated on Saturday.

Both convicts were moved from their prison in The Hague to DRC on Saturday. The transfer to the DRC, their home country, was at the request of both Lubanga and Katanga.

Lubanga became the first person ever arrested under a warrant issued by the ICC in 2006. His trial started in January 2009. In July 2012 the trial chamber sentenced Lubanga to 14 years of imprisonment. That conviction was the first in the history of the ICC, which was established in 2002.

Lubanga was sentenced for war crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities from Sept. 1, 2002 to Aug. 13, 2003, during the Second Congo War.

The war crimes took place in the Ituri region in the northeastern part of the DRC. Lubanga was political leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and also leader of their military wing FPLC.

The appeal chamber of the ICC confirmed the conviction and sentence in December 2014. The time Lubanga has spent in the ICC's custody, since March 16, 2006, will be deducted from the sentence imposed.

On May 23, 2014 Katanga was sentenced to a total of 12 years of imprisonment, making him the second conviction in the history of the ICC. He was found guilty, as an accessory, of one count of crime against humanity (murder) and four counts of war crimes (murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging), also committed in the Ituri conflict.

Katanga was commander of the Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri (FRPI). He was transferred to the detention center in The Hague in October 2007. Katanga's punishment was reduced by the appeals chamber on Nov. 13, 2015 with the date for the completion of the sentence now set on Jan. 18, 2016. Endit