The Military Court of South Kivu delivered this Tuesday, September 21, 2021 its judgment, in the trial that opposed the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the civil parties, to the militia leader Chance Mihonya, and Major Benjamin Mazambi.
Chance was convicted of all the offences committed against him by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment.
Accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for having supplied ammunition to this armed group, Major Mazambi, a FARDC officer, was acquitted by the military justice, for lack of evidence.
Today’s hearing, which focused only on the reading of the judgment, began at around 2 p.m, in front of hundreds of Katana residents who came to follow the trial. The hearing ended at 3.35 p.m.
Chance, a former FARDC captain who deserted in 2019, was being prosecuted on 9 counts.
- Crime against humanity by severe deprivation of liberty: Between 2019 and 2020 in Kahuzi Biega National Park, he was accused of arresting residents without cause, in Cirehe, Kabushwa, Mabingu, Canyena, Mantu, Cibimbi, Bulindi, Ciduha, Cahoboka, Ishiriza, and others.
- Crime against humanity by murder: On August 5, 2019, his elements are accused of killing a man in Canyena.
- Crimes against humanity through other inhumane acts: kidnapping, torture, harassment and illegal detention of the inhabitants of several villages (54 people identified, among them 14 women).
- Crime against humanity by rape: its elements are accused of raping 13 women in several villages.
- War crimes by conscription or enlistment of children: « Chance » is accused of having recruited children into his armed group, and having used them in hostilities against the FARDC, the ecoguards and other armed groups. (According to the Rome Statute)
- Recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 in his armed group (According to congolese law on child protection)
- Desertion: He was Captain FARDC, but he deserted in Nyabibwe in July 2019.
- Violation and destruction of protected areas: he is accused of introducing weapons of war into Kahuzi Biega National Park. But also cut trees in the park for the manufacture of boards and embers, and the exploitation of minerals.
- Construction in protected areas: he established his headquarters in Kahuzi Biega National Park.
His trial began on Monday 13 September in Katana, in the kabare territory of South Kivu, on the same place where he committed his crimes for the last three years, before being arrested in May 2020 during the tracking operations carried out by the eco-guards of the PNKB and the Armed Forces of the DRC, and transferred to military justice for prosecution.
In addition to the life sentence, Chance was ordered to pay different fines depending on each offense. But all fines will be paid jointly with the Congolese state, who has been recognized as civilly responsible.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the civil party said they were satisfied with this judgment, which they said met their expectations. But the defense promises to appeal.
Bertin Bulonza, from Katana