By Chris Muhizi Minembwe Capital News 9:40am Kinshasa Time.
Karim AA Khan, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), arrived in Kinshasa on Monday, May 29.
Karim AA Khan received a warm reception in Kinshasa by Lieutenant-General Lucien-René Likulia Bakumi, Auditor General of the Congolese Armed Forces, Taylor Lubanga, Head of State’s Chargé de Mission, and Firmin Mvonde Mambu, Attorney General of the Court of Cassation.
His visit is intended to: in accordance with this international jurisdiction
Talk about the plan and how to work together to combat impunity;
Ask about the status of the national strategy for criminal prosecution;
Meet with the affected areas.
The Congolese government invited the Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan to Kinshasa in December 2022 while participating in the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute’s 21st session and reiterated its cooperation with the Court.
The ICC Prosecutor’s office in The Hague received a note from the Congolese Minister of Justice, Rose Mutombo, requesting that he “focus his attention and initiate the investigation process against the RDF/M23 coalition in eastern DRC.”
This letter calls for “the prosecution and repression of the RDF/M23 as well as any other person involved as perpetrators or accomplices in the illegal acts and behaviors, characteristics of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights,” among other things. taken between
A week after the Sama administration informed him of a new situation in the DRC, he arrived in the nation.
In 2004, the ICC, which has been in operation since 2002, began its first investigations in the northeastern Ituri region.
Three final punishments for crimes committed in the DRC have since been delivered by the court.
After visiting Denis Mukwege, Khan told reporters, “We’ve had cases, we’ve got convictions, but there is a truth glaring at us in the face… the rapes have not stopped, the crimes have not ceased.
The ICC prosecutor will end his time in the DRC in Kinshasa, where he will speak with the authorities. He had also intended to travel to Ituri.
The prosecutor stated, “The message is: we need to find a new way of functioning, not in the same way that we’ve been doing since 2004.
In order to demonstrate a shared commitment to ending crimes, he urged for “stronger partnership” between the government, province governors, civic society, the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), and the United Nations (UN).
