The Trial of Thomas Lubanga at the International Criminal Court: The Appeal Judgment

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will release its appeal judgment in the case against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo on Monday, December 1, 2014.

Lubanga is the former president of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), which was a party to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 2001 to 2004. Lubanga was tried and for the war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 into the UPC rebel group and using them to participate actively in hostilities. The crimes occurred between September 1, 2002 and August 13, 2003 during an armed conflict in the DRC.

He was convicted on March 14, 2012, and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on July 10, 2012.

This briefing paper sets the stage for that decision by summarizing the main issues in the appeal, with links to relevant portions of coverage of the trial and appeal on the Open Society Justice Initiative’s trials monitoring website: ijmonitor.org.