Of the dozen soldiers, four got death sentences for atrocities committed in November 2012.
About a dozen soldiers were on Sunday, December 22, 2013, convicted of sexual violence and murder in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC town of Sake, about 30 km northwest of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province.
Al Jazeera TV cited Christophe Ndibeshe, the North Kivu Provincial Justice Minister, as explaining that four of the accused received death sentences, while the others got jail terms of between seven to 15 years. Two soldiers got death sentences for sexual violence - one for rape and the other for having taken part in the rape of a four-year-old girl. The death penalty was also handed down to another soldier who killed his bodyguard and to a civilian for his involvement in the insurgency.
A total of 19 people - 15 soldiers and four civilians – went on trial in Sake on December 2, 2013. The civilians were accused of "participating in an insurrectional movement" by supporting two local militias, Ndibeshe said. Some of the soldiers were convicted for violent acts committed in Sake in November 2012 when the Congolese army stopped the advance on Goma by the now-defunct M 23 rebel movement.
The South African Press Association, SAPA reported that another trial has been going on in Goma of some 41 soldiers, including officers, accused of war crimes and rape in 2012 in the Minova region of South Kivu Province. A UN investigation said "135 cases of sexual violence, as well as other serious human rights violations including murders and massive looting were perpetrated by the soldiers" between November 20 and 30 in and around the city of Minova.
The BBC said most of the charges in the trials in Sake and Goma relate to mass rape and other acts of sexual violence against more than 130 women and girls in November 2012 by a retreating army. The military trial followed months of international pressure after some officers were suspended, but no soldiers were tried.
The UN then threatened to stop funding army units suspected of abuses in the east of the country where armed groups often use rape as a weapon of war. The DRC government signed an accord with the UN last April to step up the fight against sexual abuse by armed groups and soldiers. Such crimes remain widespread mainly in the east where a plethora of armed groups are still active.
