The International Criminal Court (ICC) has for the first time ordered a war criminal to pay reparations to victims of his atrocities.<\/p>\n
Germain Katanga, an ex-militia leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, should pay $1m (\u00a3800,000) to villagers targeted in 2003, judges ruled.<\/p>\n
But as he was insolvent, the ICC Trust Fund for Victims should consider making the payment, the judges added.<\/p>\n
Katanga followed proceedings via video link from jail in DR Congo.<\/p>\n
The ICC sentenced him to 12 years in 2014 for aiding and abetting war crimes.<\/p>\n
He was behind the 2003 massacre of hundreds of villagers in north-eastern DR Congo.<\/p>\n
In total, the court ordered reparations of more than $3.7m.<\/p>\n
“The chamber has assessed the scope of the prejudice to 297 victims as $3,752,620. The chamber sets the amount to be contributed by Mr Katanga towards the reparations as $1m,” said presiding judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.<\/p>\n
A “symbolic” sum of $250 (\u00a3200) should be given to each of the 297 victims and a further $1m in “collective reparations”, the judge said.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the victims set out a detailed list of losses, including the destruction of houses, furniture, and the killing of livestock.<\/p>\n
They also said survivors had suffered psychological harm because of the loss of loved ones.<\/p>\n
“The order provides for two types of reparations: individual reparations, awarded to individuals to repair the harm they have suffered; and collective reparations, consisting of long-term projects covering a whole community but still focusing on individual victims to the extent possible,” an ICC statement said.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has for the first time ordered a war criminal to pay reparations to victims of his atrocities. Germain Katanga, an ex-militia leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, should pay $1m (\u00a3800,000) to villagers targeted in 2003, judges ruled. But as he was insolvent, the ICC Trust Fund for Victims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":304538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[1761,5460,4767,5461],"yoast_head":"\n