Bukavu, 10 June 2015 – The two-day work was organized by the Board of Magistrate for civilian and military magistrates. The workshop focused on the issue of criminal prosecutions against the armed group members.

Over 30 civilian and military magistrates coming from the different most affected provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), namely the North and South Kivu, Katanga and the Eastern Province as well as representatives of the Human Rights Watch and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) participated in this workshop launched by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Gisèle Nabozi Balegamire.

The objective of this workshop is «to brainstorm on the issues relating to the criminal prosecution against members of the armed groups and to bring the civilian and military magistrates to discuss this issue, » said Adama Ndao, representative of the Chief a.i. of MONUSCO to this session.

The armed groups have a great responsibility over the gross exactions committed in that part of the country, «ranging from the petty criminality (…) to organized cross-border criminality (…) serious breaches of the international law such as war crimes and crimes against humanity… »

However, « the launch of the judiciary prosecutions against the armed groups remain relatively low compared to the Human Rights violation committed by members of the Armed Forces, the Police and security services,» deplored Adama Ndao,

Muhindo Kamasita, 1st President of the Court of Appeal of Bukavu «repression of the exactions is a key element for the restoration of the State authority and especially the rule of law while the Government is battling with the eradication of the armed groups.. »

The brainstorming will also bear on the interactions between the armed groups and the political factors as well as the presentation of the potential tools to optimize the prosecutions and legal matters against the armed groups.

Minister Balegamire as far as concerned, highlighted Government commitment to the issue of the armed groups, especially the implementation of the « strategies on getting rid of all the armed groups once for all.»

The 1st President of the Court of Appeal of Bukavu, « if this effort is not backed by a significant repression, there is a risk not to be able to implement it. »

--par Alain Likota--