Today, 9 October 2014, Trial Chamber VI of the International Criminal Court (ICC) scheduled the opening of the trial in the case The Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda on 2 June 2015. Mr Ntaganda is accused of 13 counts of war crimes and 5 crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Ituri, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The confirmation of charges hearing in the Ntaganda case was held from 10 to 14 February 2014. On 9 June 2014, Pre-Trial Chamber II unanimously confirmed the charges against Bosco Ntaganda and committed him for trial on the confirmed charges before a Trial Chamber. The trial is conducted before Trial Chamber VI composed of Judge Kuniko Ozaki (Japan), Judge Robert Fremr (Czech Republic) and Judge Geoffrey A. Henderson (Trinidad and Tobago).
Bosco Ntaganda, former alleged Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Force Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo [Patriotic Force for the Liberation of Congo] (FPLC), is accused of 13 counts of war crimes (murder and attempted murder; attacking civilians; rape; sexual slavery of civilians; pillaging; displacement of civilians; attacking protected objects; destroying the enemy’s property; and rape, sexual slavery, enlistment and conscription of child soldiers under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities) and five crimes against humanity (murder and attempted murder; rape; sexual slavery; persecution; forcible transfer of population) allegedly committed in Ituri, DRC, in 2002-2003. Mr Ntaganda is in the Court’s custody.