Court Awards $1 Million for Victims of Congolese Warlord
The ruling awarded 297 victims payments of $250 each, an amount described as "symbolic"
and not intended to compensate "for the entirety of the harm." It also called for collective reparations to go toward projects covering housing, education, psychological support and activities to generate income in and around Bogoro in the Ituri region of the country.
By MARLISE SIMONSMARCH 24, 2017
PARIS — The International Criminal Court on Friday found a former militia leader liable for $1 million in reparations to his victims
and their relatives in a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mr. de Baan said such projects included vocational training for former child soldiers in central Africa
and hundreds of reconstructive surgeries in Uganda, where brutal gangs have cut off the ears, noses or lips of their victims.
Unlike international tribunals that adjudicate war crimes and crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, stands apart because its mandate specifies
that reparations to victims must be part of international justice.
In the court’s estimate, "the physical, material and psychological harm suffered by the victims" of Bogoro amounted to more than $3.7 million,
but the judges set Mr. Katanga’s liability at $1 million.
Pieter de Baan, the director of the Trust Fund for Victims, said he visited Bogoro last month to work with community leaders.