Judges of the Second Criminal Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague ruled on Friday that the Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda must pay more than 31 million dollars (more than 27 million euros) to his victims. The ICC reports this in a press release.
Nicknamed ‘Terminator’, Ntaganda led an armed group in the mineral-rich province of Ituri in 2002 and 2003. Numerous murders and rapes took place under his leadership. He also recruited child soldiers. His terror killed hundreds of civilians and displaced thousands of people.
The new compensation calculation was based on an estimated number of 3,000 victims of crimes against child soldiers. Added to this was the number of victims of attacks, which the Criminal Chamber estimated at more than 7,500 people. Ntaganda attended the remote hearing, as he has been detained in our country in the prison of Leuze-en-Hainaut since the end of last year.
Calculation of reparations
Last year, ICC judges on appeal referred the amount of compensation for the victims of the Congolese militia leader back for review. One of the reasons for this was a lack of substantiation. At the time, the lower ICC body had awarded reparations totaling USD 30 million (at the time, more than EUR 30 million according to the exchange rate prevailing at the time). However, according to the appeals chamber, it was unclear how that amount was calculated and which war victims were eligible.
Ntaganda was already sentenced to 30 years in prison in The Hague in 2019 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That judgment was upheld on appeal. His trial began in 2015, two years after he turned himself in at the US embassy in Rwanda.
The career of ‘Terminator’ Ntaganda
Bosco Ntaganda was born in Rwanda and rose to prominence among the Tutsi rebels of the RPF, which came to power in Kigali in 1994. Later he ended up in Congo. Shortly after the turn of the century, Ntaganda was deputy to the chief of staff of the rebel movement UPC (Union of Congolese Patriots). According to prosecutors, Ntaganda not only committed murders, rapes, sexual slavery and used child soldiers there, but also ordered his troops to do the same. In 2006, the first arrest warrant against Ntaganda was issued.
He was later appointed general in the Congolese army, until he deserted in 2012 with a few hundred soldiers and clashed with the Congolese government army.
It wasn’t until three years later that he presented himself at the US embassy in Kigali. Observers believe he was cornered by the loss of support from Rwandan leader Paul Kagame. In the previous months, Rwanda had been heavily criticized for the unrest it fomented in eastern Congo.
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