The Lumbala Trial – Week 2

(17-21 November 2025)

Expert witnesses and civil-party NGOs

Roger Lumbala and his defence did not appear in court throughout the second week of the trial.

Day 4 – Monday 17 November

The week opened with testimony of Xavier Macky Kisembo, from the civil party NGO  Justice Plus, who explained the rigorous methodology used to identify victims and prepare civil party applications. He described major obstacles, including limited access to conflict zones, threats against victims and staff, and smear campaigns aimed at discrediting their work, and outlined the violence suffered by Nande and Pygmy communities.

Dickson Dikangu Kalela, representing the civil party NGO  Club des Amis du Droit du Congo (CAD), explained challenges in the documentation of serious crimes in the DRC and stressed the symbolic importance of the proceedings.

The civil party NGO Clooney Foundation for Justice, represented by Yasmine Chubin and Hélène Helbig de Balzac, highlighted the urgent need to document sexual violence and noted the insecurity faced by some civil parties given the security situation in eastern DRC . They provided analysis on the economics of the conflict,  and they offered observations on  official documents relating to the management of gold mines in 2002 in the territory then administered by Lumbala  which corroborates the RCD-N’s control over natural resources and its link to military operations.

Serge Ngabu Kilo of the civil party NGO LIPADHOJ described long-standing experience documenting serious crimes,, and emphasised the persistent fear of reprisals against victims and human rights defenders supporting them, as well as the absence of national proceedings for more than 20 years.

Claire Thomas, director of the civil party NGO Minority Rights Group, detailed outreach work with the NGO PAP-RDC to reach the indigenous communities in the region around Mambasa, who are highly marginalised communities. She  stressed the importance of ensuring their voices are heard.

The day was marked by consistent accounts across organisations and by the absence of credible domestic avenues for justice.

Day 5 – Tuesday 18 November

Expert hearings provided broader context on international justice and the conflict.

Pascal Turlan, specialist in international criminal law, outlined how the ICC, hybrid courts, and national jurisdictions work and interact in the fight against impunity. Drawing on the Lubanga, Katanga, Ntaganda and Bemba cases, he explained how the ICC has addressed crimes such as child soldier recruitment, attacks on civilians, command responsibility and witness tampering, and described the Court’s structure and procedural stages.

Daniele Perissi of the NGO TRIAL International presented the organisation’s methodology and its work in the DRC. He explained why TRIAL joined the case as a civil party, described how victims and witnesses are identified, and  highlighted the international standards that guide NGOs in documenting serious crimes. He emphasized the abundance and consistency of the various pieces of evidence in the case file, and discussed the different ways in which the leader of an armed group can be complicit in crimes committed by his militia.

Céline Bardet of the civil party NGO We Are Not Weapons of War described patterns of sexual violence she haspreviously documented in Kivu and Kasai. and underlined the role of impunity in perpetuating such crimes. She discussed difficulties identifying perpetrators within large armed groups and the enormous unmet psycho-medical needs of survivors.

Mark Lattimer, former director of Minority Rights Group and author of a 2004 report on Operation Effacer le Tableau, explained the methodology and findings of his investigations, as well as the impact that the 2002–2003 violence had on the civilian population. Based on interviews conducted at the time across Ituri and North Kivu, he described extreme brutality during the Effacer le tableau operation, including attacks on Nande communities, abductions of Pygmy civilians and widespread destruction. He referred to the joint involvement of the RCD-N and the MLC, the displacement of more than 80,000 people, and testimonies gathered indicating Lumbala’s physical presence in the region during the period when the crimes were committed.

Day 6 – Wednesday 19 November

Professor Luc Henkinbrant, one of the authors of the 2010 UN Mapping Report, detailed the origins and significance of the project, which documented 617 serious incidents across the DRC between 1993 and 2003. He noted that this is, more than 20 years after the crimes, the first trial linked to one of those incidents. Henkinbrant described the report’s rigorous methodology, its intended role as a foundation for justice initiatives, and the existence of a confidential annex of alleged perpetrators that has never been shared publicly. He recalled findings on the roles of Uganda and Rwanda in eastern DRC and commented on sections concerning Effacer le tableau and the RCD-N. He closed by highlighting the structural weaknesses of the Congolese justice system and the need for credible transitional justice.

Filmmaker Thierry Michel then testified, explaining how decades of work and archival research informed his film L’Empire du Silence, which was screened after his appearance. He stressed that featuring Jean-Pierre Bemba prominently in his film did not exonerate other actors and noted that this trial finally gives many victims a chance to speak publicly.

General Jérôme Pichard and Adjudant Julien Blanc of the OCLCH presented the investigation into Lumbala, outlining the evidence obtained through international cooperation, archival research and witness interviews. They detailed the timeline of inquiries since 2016 and the reconstruction of the different phases of the Effacer le tableau operation using documents, images, NGO reports and local testimonies. Evidence indicated Lumbala’s role within the RCD-N, links with the MLC chain of command, widespread violence and large-scale displacement.

Day 7 – Thursday 20 November

Julien Blanc continued his testimony, presenting photographs, WhatsApp exchanges and official documents illustrating Lumbala’s position within the RCD-N hierarchy, and his implication in the 2002-2003 military operations. The images, confirmed by former combatants and by Lumbala, showed him in military attire alongside RCD-N figures. Phone interceptions indicated that he continued to issue coded instructions and exert influence while in detention. Blanc also presented letters signed by General Constant Ndima confirming RCD-N troop activity under Lumbala and operational coordination with the armed wing of the MLC, as well as a letter from Colonel Widi Ramses referring to Roger Lumbala as “his” president.

The court next heard two members of the UN Special Investigation Team deployed in January 2003 to document the violence around Mambasa. Sonia Bakar described more than 500 interviews revealing consistent accounts of systematic looting, murders, torture, forced labour and rape committed by the Effacer le Tableau forces first under Colonel Freddy Ngalimu and later under Colonel Widi Ramses.

Witnesses also referred to planned logistics and explicit orders authorising looting, and many referred to sexual violence and, in some cases, cannibalism.

Pierre-Antoine Braud confirmed these findings, describing terror during the second phase of Effacer le Tableau, coordinated attacks on Nande and Pygmy communities, mass displacement and the collapse of state authority. He concluded that the scale, the gravity, and organisation of the violence, combined with the established chain of command, pointed to a system in which Lumbala exercised political authority while commanders implemented military actions on the ground.

Day 8 – Friday 21 November

The court delivered its decision on the objection to jurisdiction raised by the defense. It dismissed the objection, confirming that all the required legal verifications had been completed before proceedings began in 2021 and that later extradition requests could not affect an already valid jurisdiction.

The day continued with the conclusion of Julien Blanc’s testimony, during which hereaffirmed the credibility and consistency of victims and witness accounts, as well as the breadth and diversity of the evidence gathered.

Anthropologist Jérôme Lewis described the profound marginalisation of Bambuti communities and their extreme vulnerability during the Effacer le Tableau operation, which left them exposed to executions and other forms of exploitation and extreme violence.
The court then reviewed UN reports from 2001 to 2003 describing escalating violence around Isiro and Mambasa, the political and military cooperation between the RCD-N and MLC, and the broader logic of territorial expansion.

Finally, journalist Guy Boyoma recounted his reporting from conflict zones between 2000 and 2003, the threats and the  arrests he faced, and his numerous encounters with Lumbala, which resulted in interviews published in the media. He described the joint military operations of the  ALC as the armed wing of the MLC and the RCD-N around Isiro, the roles of Lumbala and commander Ndima, the use of taxes known as “effort de guerre” (“war effort”) and Ugandan supplies, as well as the widespread abuses that led to  the mass displacement of civilians.