On 28 April 2008, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) unsealed the warrant of arrest against the Congolese militia leader, Bosco Ntaganda.

Purportedly know as “the Terminator”, Ntaganda is alleged to have committed the war crimes of enlistment and conscription of children under the age of 15 and of using them to participate actively in hostilities in Ituri, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from July 2002 until December 2003.

In issuing the warrant of arrest, the Chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Ntaganda, as a Deputy Chief of the Forces patriotiques pour la libération du Congo (FPLC), had de jure and de facto authority over the commanders of seven FPLC training camps in Ituri. The arrest warrant alleges that Ntaganda used his authority to actively implement the policy adopted at a higher level of the Union des Patriotes Congolais/FPLC of enlisting, conscripting and using children to participate actively in hostilities.

According to the judges, Ntaganda was subordinated to alleged FPLC Commander-in-Chief Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, currently under the custody of the ICC. Two other accused, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ndgudjolo Chui, were transferred to the ICC in The Hague in October 2007 and February 2008, respectively.

Arrest warrant unsealed

Out of concern that public knowledge of the proceedings might result in Ntaganda going into hiding or obstructing the investigations, the warrant of arrest was originally delivered under seal on 22 August 2006.

According to the judges, the circumstances that led to the sealing have now changed. Both the Prosecution and the Registry agreed that ‘the unsealing of the warrant of arrest for Bosco Ntaganda will not endanger the witnesses of the DRC cases’ and that this was the ‘right moment’ to make it public.

The situation in the troubled central African country was originally referred to the International Criminal Court by DRC President Kabila in March 2004.

On 23 June 2004, the ICC Chief Prosecutor decided to focus the investigation on the perpetrators most responsible for crimes committed in the gold-rich region of Ituri in the Northeast of the DRC.

Press release