ICC indicts Mudacumura

The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday issued an arrest warrant for the supreme commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Gen. Sylivestre Mudacumura, on the request of the court’s Prosecutor.Mudacumura, 58, whose militia group is largely blamed for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, stands accused of nine war crimes.According a statement published on the Hague-based tribunal’s website, “Mudacumura is suspected of committing war crimes, from 20 January 2009 to the end of September 2010, in the context of the conflict in the Kivus, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”.The court says there are “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Mudacumura is responsible for nine counts of war crimes, consisting of attacking civilians, murder, mutilation, cruel treatment, rape, torture, destruction of property, pillaging and outrages against personal dignity”.The arrest warrant followed a request in May by then-prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.Judges initially rejected Ocampo’s application for an arrest warrant, but prosecutors filed a more detailed request, resulting Fridays warrant.Meanwhile, the court also issued another arrest warrant for DRC’s Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, 41, for crimes allegedly committed from 1 September 2002 to the end of September 2003, in the Kivus.He is accused of rape and sexual slavery, and persecution, attacks against the civilian population and pillaging.

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ICC indicts Mudacumura