An army officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 10 other soldiers have gone on trial at a military court over an alleged mass rape of civilians.
\nProsecutors say Lt Col Kibibi Mutware and the other soldiers, including three officers, raped at least 35 women.
\nThe alleged rapes took place on 1 January in the town of Fizi, in the eastern province of South Kivu.
\nCol Kibibi has denied the charges. There have been numerous cases of mass rape in the unstable east of DR Congo.
\nMilitary and humanitarian sources say the events on New Year’s Day began when a mob lynched a soldier who had shot a civilian – allegedly in a fight over a woman.
\nA group of soldiers then allegedly took revenge on the people of Fizi, injuring at least 26 besides the rape victims.
\nCol Kibibi has dismissed the allegations and said the soldiers who had committed crimes had disobeyed his orders.
\nThe attacks prompted UN officials to urge a speedy investigation and transparent legal process to bring the perpetrators to justice.
\nThe trial is being held at a special mobile court in the town of Baraka, near Fizi, designed to bring justice to remote parts of the country.
\nThe trial is expected to last 10 days and is being held with the assistance of the UN mission in DR Congo, the American Bar Association and Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers Without Borders).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An army officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 10 other soldiers have gone on trial at a military court over an alleged mass rape of civilians. Prosecutors say Lt Col Kibibi Mutware and the other soldiers, including three officers, raped at least 35 women. The alleged rapes took place on 1 January in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n