European trials for Congolese accused

Two senior members of a Congolese rebel group whose leaders are accused of perpetrating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda went on trial today in Germany accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ignace Murwanashyaka, 47, and Straton Musoni, 49, of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) are accused of planning and ordering atrocities including the slaughter of civilians and rape of women and girls between early 2008 and November 2009 when they were arrested.

The two men were seized in Germany in and now face 26 charges of war crimes and 39 charges of crimes against humanity at a court in Stuttgart.

A third member of the FDLR, Callixte Mbarushimana, faces a possible trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is accused of similar crimes and is said to have taken over effective leadership of the FDLR after the arrest of his colleagues.

All three were arrested in Europe where they have lived for years. Murwanashyaka and Musoni were living in Germany when the authorities arrested them under a recently passed law that allows German courts to prosecute foreigners for crimes committed on foreign soil.

Mbarushimana was arrested in France in October last year and extradited to the ICC in The Netherlands.

The FDLR has a fearsome reputation even by the horrific standards of eastern Congo, and has long fuelled its fight through the sale of conflict minerals.

Activists including Human Rights Watch hope that these trials in Europe might be the beginning of the end of the suffering of ordinary Congolese at the hands of at least one armed group.