ICC Formally Charges Lubanga, Prepares for First Trial

On January 29, 2007, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed the charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, referring the case to the ICC’s Trial Chamber. Lubanga, who is set to be the first ICC defendant, is charged with war crimes between September 2002 and August 2003. The Chamber ruled that sufficient evidence exists to believe that Lubanga was criminally responsible for enlisting and conscripting children under the age of fifteen years into the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), the military wing of the Union des Congolais (UPC), and using them in hostilities in Ituri between September 2002 and August 13, 2003 ... [more]