DRC Politician and Ex-Military Leader Roger Lumbala refuses to stand trial in Paris

Roger Lumbala, on trial in France for complicity in crimes against humanity in the DRC, has rejected the legitimacy and jurisdiction of the French courts to try him, dismissed his defense team, and refused to appear before court.

The trial of Lumbala, who had previously cooperated with the investigation, will proceed despite his absence. The court has appointed one of his former lawyers to represent his interests. Nevertheless, the courtroom’s defense bench has been empty these past few days: no defendant, no defense team.

The President of the court also announced that Lumbala has started a hunger strike to protest the trial. Combined with his refusal to cooperate, these actions appear designed to unsettle survivors before they testify and impede the justice process for which they have waited for over 20 years.

The NGOs involved in the proceedings, TRIAL International, the Clooney Foundation for Justice, Minority Rights Group, Justice Plus, and PAP-RDC express apprehension at these developments.

Lumbala is being tried in France under universal jurisdiction. This legal principle requires states, when the conditions are met, to investigate and prosecute crimes so grave, they are considered an attack on the international community as a whole. Lumbala’s presence in France, and his alleged crimes, qualify under this principle.

Although justice has the most impact and meaning when it is local, universal jurisdiction fills a gap given the impunity for crimes committed in the DRC prior to the past decade.

So far, no crime committed during the Second Congo War (1998-2003) has been tried in the DRC, despite the fact that those crimes resulted in more than one million deaths and were thoroughly documented.

Lumbala’s trial in Paris marks a key moment for accountability efforts, and a reminder of the vital role universal jurisdiction plays when no other avenue for redress is available to survivors.