Cape Town — Roger Lumbala, 65, a former DR Congo militia leader, will stand trial in France on charges of crimes against humanity. On Monday, November 6, 2023 an investigating judge reportedly ordered Lumbala’s trial. He has been detained in France since his arrest at the end of 2020, RFI and AFP reports.
Lumbala is a former opposition lawmaker who led the RCD-N party, an armed group suspected by United Nations investigators of carrying out extrajudicial killings, rapes and cannibalism during DR Congo’s civil war from 1998-2002.
NGOs, the Clooney Foundation for Justice, TRIAL International, Minority Rights Group and Justice Plus said in a statement that “this indictment means that there is sufficient evidence to try Roger Lumbala for complicity in crimes against humanity and conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity”. The NGOs say the trial will probably be held in Paris in 2025.