THE PROSECUTOR v.

Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui

Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui were charged with seven counts of war crimes and three
counts of crimes against humanity. Katanga was a military leader predominantly Ngiti combatant group
known in Ituri as the Force de Rsistance Patriotique en Ituri ("the FRPI"), and its forces were allegedly
based in the Walendu Bindi collectivit of the Irumu territory in the Ituri district in the Orientale rovince
of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On 2004, President of the DRC him as Brigadier-
Gnral in the Forces Armes de la Rpublique Dmocratiquedu Congo ("th FARDC"), a post which he
held at the time of his arrest by the DRC authorities 2005. Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, FNI military leader of
all the Lendu fighters, on the other hand, obtained his current rank of colonel in the FARDC on 200 and
was based in Ituri, the allegedly being in the same position at the time of his arrest on 2006. From mid-
2002 to mid-2003 there was a protracted armed conflict in Ituri territory involving armed groups based
there, which had the hierarchical organisation and the ability to plan and carry out sustained military
operations., these included the FNI, the FRPI, the UPC. Prosecution submitted that on 24 February 2003,
the FNI and the FRPI, acting with a common purpose, launched a military attack on Bogoro village in the
Babiase groupement, Bahema Sud collectivit, in Irumu territory in the Ituri district. According to the
Prosecution, the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Germain Katanga and
Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui are the result of acts committed during and in the aftermath of this attack. The
two were accused of seven counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity among
those are crime against humanity of sexual slavery following the attack on Bogoro village; sexual slavery
constituting a war crime in the case of an international armed conflict; rape constituting a crime against
humanity and; rape constituting a war crime in the case of an international armed conflict. The Prosecutor
alleged that women and girls were abducted and sexually enslaved; that there were rape of civilian
female residents or civilian women present at Bogoro village, in the Bahema Sud collectivit, Irumu
territory. It was that the alleged crimes occurred in the context of and were associated with this armed
conflict, irrespective of whether the conflict was characterised as non-international or international and
that Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui knew that their conduct was part of, or intended their
conduct to be part of, a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population.

HELD: The Chamber pronounced that there must be nexus between the crime and an international armed
conflict and the perpetrator's awareness of the factual circumstances that establishedthe existence of such
conflict. In addition thereto, the elements of the crime must be established as well.

The war crime of rape, under article 8(2)(b)(xxii)-l of the Elements of Crimes,requires that: (i) the
perpetrator must invade the body of a person by conduct resulting in penetration, however slight, of any
part of the body of the victim or of the perpetrator with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of
the victim with an object or any other part of the body; and (ii) the invasion must be committed by force,
or by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological
oppression or abuse of power, against such person or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive
environment, or the invasion was committed against a person incapable of giving genuine consent. On the
other hand, For the war crime of sexual slavery under article 8(2)(b)(xxii)-2 of the Elements of Crimes,
the perpetrator must: (i) exercise any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over one or
more persons, such as by purchasing,selling, lending, or bartering such a person or persons, or by
imposing on them asimilar deprivation of liberty; and (ii) cause such person or persons to engage in one
or more acts of sexual nature.
Chamber finds that there are substantial grounds to believe that the war crimes of rape and sexual slavery,
as denned in article 8(2)(b)(xxii) of the Statute, were committed by FNI/FRPI members in the aftermath
of the 24 February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro. FNI/FRPI combatants committed rape and
sexual enslavement of civilian Women; that civilian women were abducted from the village of Bogoro
after the attack, imprisoned, and forced into becoming the 'wives' of FNI/FRPI combatants, required to
cook for and obey the orders of FNI or FPRI combatants. These civilian women were forced to engage in
acts of a sexual nature. The Chamber believes that these rapes resulted in the invasion of the body of
these civilian women by the penetration of the perpetrator's sexual organ or other body parts these
invasions were committed by force, threat or fear of violence or death, and/or detention

In reaching this finding, the Chamber takes into account the evidence from Witness 249, a Hema civilian
woman. She was abducted, undressed, and raped by an Ngiti combatant at the village of Bogoro.
Following death threats, she became the 'wife' of an Ngiti combatant,464 and was repeatedly raped. She
had a child as a result of these rapes during her captivity. The Chamber also took the evidence adduced
from Witness 132, a Hema civilian woman. She fled the village of Bogoro during the attack and was still
in hiding when she was abducted by the combatants. She was repeatedly raped at the site of her abduction
and while in captivity.

On the nexus of the crimes to the armed conflict, the Chamber first defined that a crime has taken place in
the context of, or in association with an armed conflict where "the alleged crimes were closely related to
the hostilities. This means that the armed conflict "must play a substantial role in the perpetrator's
decision, in his ability to commit the crime or in the manner in which the conduct was ultimately
committed. It is not necessary, however, for the armed conflict to have been regarded as the ultimate
reason for the criminal conduct, nor must the conduct have taken place in the midst of the battle. In
conclusion, and on the basis of the evidence admitted for the purposes of the confirmation hearing, the
Chamber considers that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that the
offences committed during and in the aftermath of the joint FNI/FRPI 24 February 2003 attack on the
village of Bogoro took place in the context of and were associated with the protracted armed conflict
in the Ituri District. The also Chamber finds that there are substantial grounds to believe that Germain
Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, as well as other FNI/FRPI commanders and combatants, were fully
aware of the factual circumstances that established the existence of an armed conflict in the Ituri District
between, at least, August 2002 and May 2003, and that the 24 February 2003 attack on Bogoro was part
of that armed conflict because of strategic geographical location of the village and because the children
whom they used as body guards came from the Hema and Bogobo village.

The Chamber CONFIRMS the following charges.