Friday, 18 June 2010- OTP Representative testifies on the alleged corruption of evidence

A field liaison coordinator for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) is the first of six individuals - three intermediaries and three representatives of the OTP - who the judges ordered to testify on the alleged corruption of evidence. According to various Defence witnesses, the intermediaries who collaborated with the investigators corrupted the case by instigating or assisting Prosecution witnesses with giving false testimony before the Court. As a result, Lubanga´s lawyers announced that they would be asking the Chamber to dismiss the charges against their client on the grounds of abuse of process.

The Defence believes it is essential to understand how the testimonies were corrupted, who played a role in the fabrication of evidence  and, "a vital issue", how much responsibility lies with the Office of the Prosecution for this corruption.

The Prosecution will therefore attempt to shed light on these questions, first with the testimony from this liaison officer, the link between witnesses, intermediaries and investigators in the process of gathering evidence against Thomas Lubanga.

According to the officer, his daily activities in Ituri consisted of screening potential witnesses introduced to him by the intermediaries - mainly former child soldiers - and putting the children in contact with the investigators, who at a later stage would interview them at length. The liaison officer was also in charge of child transportation and providing financial and logistical support to intermediaries.

How were payments made to witnesses and intermediaries?

In response to the allegations that witnesses and intermediaries could have received money in exchange for their cooperation with the Court, the officer testified that all payments were approved by his supervisors, they were duly signed for and the receipts were submitted to the ICC headquarters.

The OTP representative testified that a large amount of those payments were used for transporting the intermediaries as well as for their subsistence and communication costs. He stated that at times the house rent for the intermediaries was paid after they were relocated on account on security concerns. He also explained that the intermediaries who work for the OTP "are paid in accordance with the various tasks that they carry out. There is a sheet that is prepared by the investigators at headquarters. They are the ones who keep track of the tasks in the field and prepare a document showing the number of days of work that intermediaries did in the field, and that is the basis on which payment is made."

Did the former child soldiers lie to the ICC investigators?

Defence Witness 16 said in court: "During the meeting with Mr. X, we planned to tell lies," referring to an OTP intermediary. "The lie was to say he [Thomas Lubanga] had enrolled children in the army and I myself was amongst them. [...The intermediary] 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 who I knew were enlisted in the army."

According to the liaison officer, Mr. X never told him that he thought or knew that one of the children was lying about having been a child soldier. "If he had told me of such a thing, I would have reacted immediately. I would have informed my bosses that such a child who was sent to me, who was questioned, was a not a child soldier, or had lied," said the officer.

The witness also denied that Mr. X knew the questions that the investigator posed to the children he interviewed. "Mr. X never saw the questionnaire. It was not intended for him and I did not discuss it with him. The questions were for me; I met the children and I questioned them," said the officer. He added that after questioning the children, he never discussed with Mr. X what the children had said.

Were the children given incentives to provide incriminating evidence?

According to the officer's testimony, child soldiers who testified for the Prosecution were never promised or given any incentives to provide incriminating evidence. He said that both the children and their guardians volunteered to cooperate with the OTP.

"My job was to take children to meet the investigators and I limited myself to [this]...So no promises were made to the parents or the children," he said.

The first intermediary will appear in Court next Thursday, 24 June.