About the author(s):
Katharine Fortin is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University where she teaches IHL and IHRL. Before joining Utrecht University, she worked at the ICTY, ICC and Norton Rose Fulbright. She is the author of The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2017) which won the 2018 Lieber Prize. She has written widely about the framework of law that applies to armed groups in non-international armed conflicts and is one of the editors of the Armed Groups and International Law blog.
Breaking news coming out of Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court that Ngudjolo Chui has been acquitted on all counts and is due to be released later today, pending an article 81 application by the OTP for which oral arguments will be made at 13.30. None of the key witnesses was considered to be credible and although Ngudjolo was found to have a position of certain influence within the armed group, the chamber could not find beyond reasonable doubt that he was the leader and that he had any involvement in the Bogoro attack.
Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, a Congolese national, was charged with three counts of crimes against humanity and seven counts of war crimes allegedly committed on 24 February 2003 during the attack against the Bogoro village. It is alleged that this attack was carried out by combatants led by Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga, that it was part of a widespread attack directed not only against a military camp located in Bogoro village but also against the civilian population of the village.
There will be more discussion of this case on the blog later!