The former Congolese vice President Jean - Pierre Bemba ,has been found guilty in the first trial at the International criminal court to focus on the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
The verdict marks the first time the ICC has convicted defendant of rape or command responsibility for the actions of their troops.
The 53 year old warlord commanded a militia that committed mass murder rape an pillage in the Central African Republic.
The prosecutor told the court that Bemba who led the congolese liberation movement (MLC ) "Knew that the troops were committing crimes and did not take all necessary and reasonable measures within his powers to prevent or repress their commission."The 53 year old warlord commanded a militia that committed mass murder rape an pillage in the Central African Republic.
Bemba was convicted of two counts of crime against humanity , involving murder and rape as well as three counts of war crime- murder , rape, and pillaging all connected to attack in CAR between 2002-2003.
His troop had tried to overthrow President Ange-Felix Patasse government of which they succeded . The presiding Brazilian judge Sylvia Steiner said that MLC soldiers had opened fire on civilians without regard to age or gender. "The civilian population was the primary target rather than the incidental target of the attack" she said in her judgement.
In a graphical description of the attacks Steiner said "MLC soldiers by force knowingly and intentionally invaded the bodies of the victims by penetrating the victims anuses, vaginas or any other bodily opening with their penises" on occasions family members were forced to watch , at gun point.
Bemba who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo after losing a Presidential poll was arrested in Belgium in 2008 and transfered to the ICC 's detention center in the Hague.
His trial started in November 2010 and lasted four years .It heard from 77witnesses. More than 5,000 victims were granted the right to participate in the hearings. The highest number in any of the cases before the Hague.
According to Bemba's lawyer, Bemba did not have full control over the troops. "There is not a single documentary piece of evidence that shows any orders passing from Bemba and going to his troops in the Central Africa Republic" said Kate Gibson.
Amnesty International said the guilty verdict against Bemba was an historic moment in the battle for justice for victims of sexual violence in the CAR and around the world. "It sends a clear message that impunity for sexual violence as a tool of war will not be tolerated" said the group's Central Africa Director Samira Daoud.
Bemba and four others are also on trial in a second case in which they are accused of bribing witnesses in his main trial. He will be sentenced after a separate hearing.