Ex-Congo rebel leader Roger Lumbala sentenced to 30 years in France for crimes against humanity

Former Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala was found guilty on Monday by a Paris court of complicity in crimes against humanity committed during the Second Congo War and sentenced to 30 years in prison, an official confirmed.

The trial has been hailed by international justice advocates as a significant step toward accountability for the conflict that claimed millions of lives. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for the 67-year-old Lumbala.

Court President Marc Sommerer announced that Lumbala was guilty of ordering or aiding and abetting acts of torture and inhumane treatment, summary executions, rape constituting torture, sexual slavery, forced labour, theft, and pillage. The charges relate to a military operation known as “Erasing the Board,” conducted in 2002 and 2003 in northeastern Congo by the Uganda-backed Movement for the Liberation of the Congo and Rally for Congolese Democracy-National (RCD-N), which Lumbala led at the time.

The operation targeted members of the Nande and Bambuti groups, accused of supporting rival militias. Lumbala’s defence lawyer, Hugues Vigier, declined to comment after the verdict.

The Second Congo War, which lasted from 1998 to 2003, involved nine countries and killed more than 5 million people, many of whom died from hunger and disease. While some individuals have faced trials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes committed during the war, Lumbala’s case marks the first time a Congolese national has been tried in a national court for offenses linked to the conflict.

Lumbala was arrested in January 2021 under France’s “universal jurisdiction” law, which allows French courts to prosecute crimes against humanity committed abroad. He refused to testify during the trial, questioning the legitimacy of the French court, but attended the verdict.

Yasmine Chubin, legal director of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which participated as a civil party, said national courts provide additional avenues for justice beyond the limited reach of the ICC. “With universal jurisdiction, you tighten the net and create more options for victims, leaving perpetrators with nowhere to hide,” she said.

Pisco Paluku Sirikivuya, a nurse from Mambasa in eastern Congo, travelled to Paris to recount how RCD-N rebels robbed and injured him, killed his uncle, and raped his friend’s wife in Congo’s Ituri province. “I am moved and very satisfied with this verdict. We have waited so long,” he said. “We hope this will serve as a lesson to those who continue to bring grief to the people of Congo, particularly in Ituri.”