Congo-Kinshasa: Trial of Ex-Congolese Warlord Important Step for Justice

Sylvain Liechti/UN
Officers of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) set apart demobilized child soldiers (file photo).
12 November 2025
Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
By Anna Bruckner

Roger Lumbala Faces Crimes Against Humanity Charges in French Court

The trial of Roger Lumbala Tshitenga, a former rebel leader and former minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo, begins on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, before the Paris Criminal Court. Lumbala is charged with crimes against humanity allegedly committed in North Kivu and Ituri provinces between 2002 and 2003, including summary executions, torture and other inhuman treatment, rape, pillages, and enslavement, including sexual slavery.

French authorities arrested Lumbala in Paris in December 2020 and indicted him in November 2023 as a matter of universal jurisdiction. Under this legal principle, states can investigate and prosecute those responsible for grave crimes regardless of where they were committed or the nationality of the suspects or their victims.

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This is the first universal jurisdiction trial for atrocities committed in Congo by a Congolese national, an important step for justice and a testament to the perseverance of victims and survivors.

Congo today remains embroiled in a conflict that has spanned over 30 years. Fighting between August 1998 and July 2003 involved the Congolese government against the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) armed group and several national armed forces, including Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. Lumbala founded and led the Congolese Rally for Democracy-National (RCD-National), an armed group that Uganda supported to fight against the Congolese government, which had its own allies in a war that left over one million dead.

Lumbala, 67, is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity during "Effacer le tableau" ("Erase the board"), a military operation carried out by the RCD-National between October 2002 and January 2003 to capture the resource-rich area of Beni in Ituri province.

Lumbala's trial is a stark reminder of the persistent impunity for atrocities in Congo; for more than three decades, the near absence of accountability has contributed to recurrent cycles of abuse. Governments should support and strengthen justice efforts for Congo, both domestic and international, and they should continue to pursue cases under universal jurisdiction to bolster victims' access to justice.

Anna Bruckner, Coordinator, Africa Division

Read the original article on HRW.

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