Lubanga Prosecutors to Call Rebuttal Witnesses

Monday, 7 June, 2010

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Wairagala Wakabi

At least four prosecution witnesses will be called back to the witness stand to rebut evidence advanced by Thomas Lubanga’s defence, the Office of The Prosecutor, OTP, said last week.

Prosecuting lawyer Manoj Sachdeva said that besides the four prosecution witnesses who testified last year, they were also want two other individuals to travel to The Hague to testify as rebuttal witnesses.

Lubanga is accused of conscripting, recruiting, and using child soldiers during 2002 and 2003. According to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, ICC, Lubanga was the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC, a group that used child soldiers in inter-ethnic fighting in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

Sachdeva said that the prosecution witnesses the OTP wants to call back includes Witness 38, whom he said was the first witness that testified for the prosecution. This witness stated that he was a former child soldier in the UPC. Prosecutors said he was introduced to the OTP by intermediary 316, who is himself due to give evidence in the trial at the behest of judges.

Over the past months, Lubanga's defence team has sought to discredit the prosecution's case by claiming that intermediaries, who facilitated contact between the court and witnesses, acted improperly.

But Sachdeva said a statement by Witness 38 shows that intermediaries behaved appropriately.

“[The witness] stated that he was never asked to lie,” he said. “What he told the prosecution was the truth.”

Lead defence counsel Catherine Mabille said last week that the defence was about to complete writing its application for judges to dismiss the case against Lubanga on the grounds of abuse of process.

Two intermediaries and at least two investigators will testify in the trial before the defence submits its application.

The OTP also wants Witness 551 to reappear to rebut evidence relating to documents which a defence witness authenticated. This witness would also give evidence as to the way schooling was conducted in Ituri province and about the reliability of school records during the period of unrest in the area.

Sachdeva said the OTP wanted Witness 555 to give evidence relevant to the alleged climate of fear and intimidation by UPC supporters of people said to have cooperated with the ICC.

He added that Witness 496 could testify about the age of his two sons who testified for the prosecution and provide evidence about intimidation and possible threats by UPC supporters.

According to Sachdeva, there were also other persons the prosecution was trying to contact so they could appear as rebuttal witnesses.

Prosecutors also wanted judges to order that the identity of a person referred to in court as Kordo should be revealed, so the OTP could then call him as a rebuttal witness. According to some prosecution and defence witnesses, Kordo, who they said was close to Lubanga, threatened individuals who were cooperating with the ICC.

Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford asked the OTP to provide a comprehensive list of the witnesses they intended to call and when they were likely to be ready to testify. The list has to be provided to the court this week.

Last week, judges directed prosecutors to reveal to the defence details of the professional backgrounds of the intermediaries they used in gathering evidence against Lubanga. An appeal by the OTP against revealing these details was rejected by Judges Fulford, Elizabeth Odio Benito and René Blattmann.

Judge Fulford asked prosecutors to explain why they had not complied with an order handed down in mid May for this information to be disclosed to the defence.

Mabille had complained to judges that the OTP had failed to honour disclosure obligations related to the intermediaries. “We have asked the OTP for a number of items of information with regard to intermediaries, namely contracts linking them to prosecutors. We made the request on May 18 [2010] but we have received no reply,” she said.

The judge ordered the OTP to reveal to the defence details of the contracts between the OTP and the 23 intermediaries who were engaged in putting together the case against Lubanga, and details of any work the intermediaries might have done with the Congolese government and NGOs, as well as contacts they had with organisations that worked with children.

The case continues this week.

IWPR's weekly updates of the Thomas Lubanga trial are produced in cooperation with the Open Society Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute, OSI. Daily coverage of the trial can be found at http://www.lubangatrial.org/