ICC: Arrest and Surrender of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui

Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, former leader of the National integrationist Front (FNI) and currently a colonel in the National Army of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was arrested yesterday by Congolese authorities and surrendered and transferred to the International Criminal Court. A Pre-Trial Chamber issued a sealed warrant of arrest for Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui on July 6, 2007; that warrant was unsealed today. He is charged, on the basis of individual criminal responsibility, with three counts of crimes against humanity (murder; inhumane acts; and sexual slavery) and six counts of war crimes (wilful killing; inhuman treatment or cruel treatment; using children under the age of fifteen years to participate actively in hostilities; sexual slavery; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; and pillaging a town or place even when taken by assault). The ICC press release is here; a statement by the Office of the Prosecutor is here. Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is the third person in the ICC's custody.