ICC Congo witness on hunger strike over asylum bid
30/04/2014
A Congolese witness who implicated President Joseph Kabila in
testimony at the International Criminal Court has gone on hunger
strike over his stalled Dutch asylum bid, his lawyer said on
Wednesday.
Floribert Ndjabu has been placed under medical observation at the
ICC's detention unit in The Hague, where he has been held for over
three years after seeking asylum in the Netherlands, fearing
prosecution if he is sent back to the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), lawyer Ghislain Mabanga told AFP.
"This is the last option, all other paths have been blocked, all
procedures at the ICC have been exhausted," Mabanga said.
"He will be on hunger strike until a solution is found," he said:
"He's doing badly, he's very weak."
The ICC was not immediately available for comment.
Ndjabu is one of three witnesses who sought asylum in the Netherlands
after giving testimony in 2011 in the cases of Congolese former
militia bosses Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga.
Ndjabu, Pierre Celestin Mbodina and Manda Charif were sent from a
prison in DRC where they were being held pending trial for alleged war
crimes.
The ICC's Appeals Chamber in January ordered the three men to be sent
home, pressing the Dutch authorities for a decision on their asylum
bid.
However, three years after they testified and filed asylum claims,
their case is still pending before the Dutch Supreme Court, which is
to begin hearings on June 6.
"Floribert is desperate because he's been held at the detention unit
for three years as an asylum seeker and the Netherlands refuses to
take him," lawyer Mabanga said.
"He's afraid that the process will go on much longer and that he'll be
in detention for many more years."
Mabanga said one of the other witnesses was also thinking of going on
hunger strike.
Warlords Ngudjolo and Katanga were accused of being involved in the
massacre of more than 200 people in the village of Bogoro in the DRC's
restive northeastern Ituri province in 2003.
The witnesses' testimony included the allegation that Kabila had a
hand in the Bogoro attack.
In December 2012, Ngudjolo was acquitted of war crimes after judges
said prosecutors failed to prove his commanding role in the Bogoro
attack.
Katanga was convicted in March of complicity in the attack. He is to
be sentenced at another hearing, pending his appeal.
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/dutch-news/icc-congo-witness-on-hunger-strike-over-asylum-bid_291459.html
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