A Crown prosecutor, formerly part of a UN initiative to investigate war crimes in the DRC, has slammed the ‘floundering’ program stating he was ‘blocked’ from making any substantial progress in bringing war criminals to justice.
John Lester, who served as a Crown prosecutor in British Columbia, Canada before joining the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, stated the initiative was “accomplishing nothing.“
However, the military prosecutors soon stated “there were no crimes to prosecute”, noting that the UN was only “invited” to help assist in cases of war crimes.
Lester stated he was “blocked from doing my job”, adding,
John Lester, who served as a Crown prosecutor in British Columbia, Canada before joining the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, stated the initiative was “accomplishing nothing.“
“It’s bullsh**, just spinning. People aren’t doing anything there except writing and reading reports.”Under the UN mandate, it is up to the Congolese to investigate and prosecute any war criminals, with Mr Lester and his colleagues left to “assist” the Congolese military courts.
However, the military prosecutors soon stated “there were no crimes to prosecute”, noting that the UN was only “invited” to help assist in cases of war crimes.
Lester stated he was “blocked from doing my job”, adding,
“The entire expensive mission depends upon the individual whims of military prosecutors”This is despite a 2011 US State Department report which noted Congolese state security forces were,
“undisciplined, corrupt, undertrained, and grossly underfunded… There were several occasions during the year when [state security force] members arbitrarily and summarily killed civilians, sometimes during apprehension or while holding them in custody, sometimes during protests, and often when victims did not surrender their possessions, submit to rape, or perform personal services.”See report from the National Post here.
