Trial of accused FDLR leaders continues in Germany

The trial of former leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) Ignance Murwanashyaka and his deputy Straton Musoni is continuing in the German city of Stuttgart.

They face 26 counts of crimes against humanity and 39 counts of war crimes committed by militias under their command between January 2008 and their arrest in November 2009. The hearing is slated to end this week but no timeframe has been put forward for a verdict.

Murwanashyaka is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as being a member of the foreign terrorist organization Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). He’s also accused of having ordered the chief of the militia group to carry ethnic massacres in eastern Congo between 2008 and 2009.

The trial is unique in that it is the first to use Germany’s Code of Crimes against International Law. Introduced in 2002, the legislation allows Germany to prosecute people for war crimes and human rights violations committed outside the country. Superiors are also responsible for the acts of their subordinates if they made no attempt to prevent them from committing crimes.

Murwanashyaka’s lawyer Ricarda Lang argues that her client is not responsible for the crimes that he is accused of and wants him to be acquitted. In an interview with DW last month, Lang said her client had no way to prevent these crimes. As a politician, he had no influence on the military arm of the FDLR that committed the atrocities.

Until 2009, when he was arrested, Ignace Murwanashyaka lived in the German city of Mannheim where he kept a low profile.

The prosecution needs to provide evidence that he influenced the first FDLR general in the DRC to carry out the killings. If prosecuted, Murwanashyaka will serve a five-fold life imprisonment. He is currently in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in Stuttgart.

His deputy Straton Musoni is also said to have issued orders to the FDLR militia from Germany via satellite telephone, SMS and emails.

UM– USEKE.RW