A Congolese militia leader trained child soldiers to kill and pillage, the international criminal court heard as it finally began its historic first trial today.Thomas Lubanga, the former head of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), appeared before the court six years after the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal was set up in The Hague on charges of conscripting children under 15 and sending them into battle.
The UPC "recruited and trained hundreds of children to kill, pillage and rape", the chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said in an opening address.
"Hundreds of children still suffer the consequences of Lubanga's crimes. They cannot forget what they suffered, what they did, what they saw. They cannot forget the beatings they suffered, they cannot forget the terror they felt and the terror they inflicted. They cannot forget the sounds of the machine guns, they cannot forget that they killed. They cannot forget that they raped, that they were raped."
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