Tuesday, 9 March 2010 - Prosecution: The money provided to the defence witness was not in return for any information.

Lubanga´s defence continues questioning Witness 16.  "Yesterday you mentioned you said lies to the OTP investigators.  You planned to say, ´he enlisted children in the army´," says Mr. Biju-Duval.  "What army you were referring to? And when you talked about ´he´, who you were alluding to?" asks the lawyer.  "This is what I said," says the witness, "we prepared lies and I was supposed to say I saw Thomas Lubanga enlisting children in the UPC army."

Witness 16 said yesterday that before meeting the ICC investigators, he fabricated lies with a man called Mr. X, an OTP intermediary.  "[Mr. X] gave me some money and I agreed to lie," said the witness.  "He said to me I had to tell the investigators that I had been a soldier... [that] I saw young children in the army and that people whom I knew were enlisted in the army."  But Witness 16 never enlisted in an armed group.

The witness told the Court that after a previous meeting with the investigators in Bunia, a second encounter took place in Kampala.  "Were you given any money?" asks Mr. Biju-Duval, referring to this second meeting.  "Yes," replies the witness.  Lubanga´s lawyer proffers the Chamber several documents that show the witness received money as reimbursement for his expenses.  The documents, all signed by the witness, mention different sums of money supposedly paid to him: $400, $700, $100 and $40.  "Do you remember having received this money?" asks Mr. Biju-Duval.  Witness 16 has difficulty recalling the exact amounts but agrees, adding that Mr. X was the man who gave him the money.  After the encounter in Kampala, the witness met the ICC investigators once again, this time in Kinshasa.

Mr. Biju-Duval shows the witness another document.  It is a letter drafted in Swahili.  "Do you recognise this document?" asks the Counsel.  "I know it very well," replies the witness.  "We drafted it in Bunia."  After his trip to Kinshasa, Witness 16 returned to Bunia where his family awaited him with a message: they told him they had been harassed because of his cooperation with the Court.  "My family members attacked me because a certain person had come to my home to say I was lying about Thomas Lubanga.  I told them it was false.  I went to Mr. X´s home and told him that the activities I performed with him caused me problems.  He told me to come back at home and he would call me the next day to find a solution," explains the witness.  "He told me we were going to draft this document on behalf of somebody else." The letter that Mr. Biju-Duval now presents is a false death threat addressed to the witness.  The document was written by Mr. X.  "The letter would be sent to the [ICC] officials.  They would know how to get me out of Bunia," says the witness.

The prosecution commences the cross-examination.  The team bases its argument on a single premise: the money provided to the defence witness was not in return for any information.

According to Mr. Sachdeva´s questions, when the witness travelled to Kampala he received a daily subsistence allowance which covered his expenses.  He suggests that the OTP also provided some money for the cover-up story to protect the witness.  "The investigators told me I shouldn't say what we were doing in Kampala," confirms the witness.  "The OTP also informed you about a policy to recompense you for the salary lost during your time in Kampala, right?"  Witness 16 agrees.

When Mr. Sachdeva moves on to another part of his testimony, the witness interrupts him: "I would like to take a break.  I have a headache."  The Trial Attorney wanted to explore whether the witness had ever heard of the ICC before he met the investigators for the first time in Bunia.