Germain Katanga (; born 28 April 1978), also known as Simba (), is a former leader of the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI), an armed group in the

Ituri Province Ituri is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Ituri, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Orientale province. Ituri was ...

of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC).International Criminal Court (19 October 2007).
Statement by Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor, during the press conference regarding the arrest of Germain Katanga
''. Retrieved on 21 October 2007. On 17 October 2007, the Congolese authorities surrendered him to the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to pro ...

(ICC) to stand trial on six counts of war crimes and three counts of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

.International Criminal Court (18 October 2007).
Second arrest: Germain Katanga transferred into the custody of the ICC
''. Retrieved on 21 October 2007. The charges include

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

, destruction of property,

pillaging Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, willful killing, and directing crimes against civilians. On 7 March 2014, Katanga was convicted by the ICC on five counts of war crimes and

as an accessory to the February 2003 massacre in the village of Bogoro.Germain Katanga: Guilty of war crimes, the brutal warlord who terrorized the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

, 07 March, 2014. Accessed 08 March, 2014 The verdict was the second-ever conviction in the 12 years of operation of the ICC, following the 2012 conviction of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.Katanga found guilty over war crimes

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, 08 March, 2014. Accessed 08 march, 2014

Early life and family

Katanga was born on 28 April 1978 in Mambasa,

Orientale Province Orientale Province ( French: ''Province orientale'', "Eastern province") is one of the former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its predecessors the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. It went through a series of boundary ...

, in the north-east of

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

(the modern-day DRC). He is believed to be of

Ngiti The Ngiti , or South Lendu, is an ethnolinguistic group located in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ngiti speakers call their language ''Ndruna''. In 1991, the Ngiti numbered 100,000 located in the Irumu territory sout ...

ethnicity. He is married to Denise Katanga and has two children.

Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri

Région Ituri République démocratique du Congo

In early 2003, he emerged as the senior commander of the FRPI, a

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

group which was involved in the conflict in Ituri. On 24 February 2003, Katanga allegedly led an attack on the village of Bogoro in which rebels under his command went on an "indiscriminate killing spree", killing at least 200

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...

s, imprisoning survivors in a room filled with corpses, and sexually enslaving women and girls. It has also been alleged that Katanga helped lead other crimes, including the massacre of more than 1,200 civilians in an attack at Nyakunde Hospital in September 2002. On December 11, 2004, Katanga was one of six former militia leaders appointed as

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

s in the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) as part of a peace process.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

(14 January 2005).
D.R. Congo: Army Should Not Appoint War Criminals
'. Retrieved on 21 October 2007.

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, ...

(21 October 2007).
Congolese warlord to appear before ICC Monday
''. Retrieved on 21 October 2007. He was granted the specific rank of

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...

. Katanga was succeeded as leader of the FRPI by Cobra Matata. He was arrested by the Congolese authorities in early March 2005 in connection with the killing of nine United Nations peacekeepers in Ituri on 25 February 2005.Corder, Mike (22 October 2007).
Congolese War Crimes Suspect at Hague
'. The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

. Retrieved on 13 November 2007. Trial Watch (9 November 2007).
Germain Katanga
''. Retrieved on 13 November 2007. He was held without charge until his transfer to the ICC in October 2007. On 1 November 2005, a

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, ...

committee imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on Katanga for violating an

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to " dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintai ...

International Criminal Court proceedings

On 2 July 2007, a Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Katanga bore individual criminal responsibility for war crimes and

committed during the Bogoro attack, and issued a sealed warrant for his arrest. He was charged with six counts of war crimes (willful killing; inhuman treatment or cruel treatment; using children under the age of fifteen years to participate actively in hostilities;

; intentionally directing attacks against civilians; and pillaging) and three counts of crimes against humanity (

, inhumane acts and sexual slavery). On 17 October 2007, the Congolese authorities surrendered him to the ICC and he was flown to the ICC's detention centre in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. Katanga was the second person surrendered to the ICC since its establishment in 2002.

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

(19 October 2007).
ICC seeks arrests after surrender of Congo suspect
'. Retrieved on 21 October 2007. In February 2008, another suspect, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, was surrendered to the ICC to face charges in relation to the Bogoro attack;International Criminal Court (7 February 2008).
''Third detainee for the International Criminal Court: Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui''
. Retrieved on 9 February 2008. he and Katanga will be tried jointly.International Criminal Court (10 March 2008). . Retrieved on 10 March 2008. The hearing to confirm the charges against them began on 27 June 2008. and ended on 11 July 2008. On 26 September 2008, Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed some of the charges against Katanga and Ngudjolo and committed them for trial before a Trial Chamber of the Court. The trial began on 24 November 2009.

ICC verdict

On March 7, 2014, by a 2-to-1 decision, the ICC convicted Germain Katanga on five counts of war crimes and

, as an accessory in the February 2003 massacre in the village of Bogoro in the DRC.International Criminal Court Convicts Congolese Warlord

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International broadcasting, international radio broadcaster of the United States, United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international br ...

, March 7, 2014. Accessed March 8, 2014 The verdict was only the second time in the 12-year history of the International Criminal Court that an ICC trial resulted in a conviction. The Bogoro massacre resulted in approximately 200 villagers being killed, and many women being raped and forced into

. Katanga was originally charged as an "indirect co-perpetrator" for the crimes related to the Bogoro massacre but was only convicted of being an accessory to these crimes. This change in the charge was made by the Court during the trial. Judge

Christine van den Wyngaert Christine, Baroness Van den Wyngaert (born 2 April 1952) is a Belgian jurist and judge. She served as international and comparative criminal law expert from 2009 to 2018 as a judge on the International Criminal Court. She served in the Trial Div ...

, in her dissenting opinion, said that it "has rendered this trial unfair by infringing a series of Germain Katanga's rights".Germain Katanga guilty of murder and pillage in Congo massacre

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

, 07 March, 2014. Accessed 08 March, 2014 The court acquitted Katanga of directing rapes and the use of child soldiers during the massacre, citing insufficient evidence to connect Katanga to these crimes, while at the same time emphasizing that these crimes did occur. The court cited evidence that Katanga supplied guns to the militia that carried out the Bogoro massacre, thus "reinforcing the strike capability of the militia" in justifying the convictions of Katanga as an accessory, but indicated that the evidence presented during the trial was insufficient to sustain the original charge that he directed the massacre. Katanga's co-accused, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, was acquitted of similar charges in December 2012 because of the lack of evidence for his role in the massacre.DR Congo warlord Germain Katanga found guilty at ICC

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

, 07 March, 2014. Accessed 08 March, 2014 Although Katanga and Chui were originally charged together, the ICC split their trials in November 2012 to allow the prosecutors to collect more evidence regarding Katanga's involvement.ICC tribunal finds Katanga complicit in war crimes in Congo

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service cons ...

, 07 March, 2014. Accessed 08 March, 2014 The Katanga trial verdict produced mixed reactions. Some human rights activists in the DRC expressed satisfaction with the verdict as bringing a measure of closure to the victims and their families, with one activist quoted as saying: "For those who lost their possessions, their mothers, their homes, this judgment provides some relief. Today people here see some satisfaction. In the end, everyone must answer for his actions." A lawyer for the victims in the case stated: "In their heart, many victims want to believe that, somehow, this judgment will contribute to peace and reconciliation". Some women's groups criticized the ICC for acquitting Katanga of rape and sexual slavery charges, claiming that the court appeared to demand higher level of proof for the sexual crimes than for other crimes.Congolese Militia Leader Convicted in Attack on Village

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, March 7, 2014. Accessed March 8, 2014 Phil Clark, a London-based expert on the ICC, criticized the ICC prosecutors for not devoting sufficient resources to the case: "The ICC has been doing its investigations on the cheap. It's been using a really small group of investigators who haven’t spent an enormous amount of time in Congo. The prosecution has cut corners, they’ve used local Congolese intermediaries to do a lot of their dirty work. And as a result of that these cases haven’t been systematically built." The

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Ministe ...

issued a statement welcoming the verdict and saying: "This is an important verdict for the victims of these horrific crimes, for international justice and for the fight against impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." Melbourne Law School Professor

Kevin Jon Heller Kevin Jon Heller is a scholar of international law, who is a professor of law at the Australian National University and has also taught at the University of Amsterdam, SOAS, University of London, and Melbourne Law School. Heller was described by on ...

, an expert in international criminal law, has strongly criticised the recharacterisation of the charges Katanga faced, arguing that this violates the

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

and the rights of the accused. On 23 May 2014, Katanga was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. The time he spent in detention at the ICC – between 2007 and 2014 – was deducted from the sentence. On 19 December 2015, Katanga was transferred to a prison in the DRC, where he is scheduled to serve the balance of his sentence.

References and notes

External links