A Congolese militia leader widely known as "the Terminator" led fighters, including child soldiers, in a campaign of ethnically motivated rape and murder, the International Criminal Court was told yesterday.
"He played a key role in planning assaults against the civilian population in order to gain territory," Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told judges who will decide if there is enough evidence for Ntaganda to stand trial.
Ntaganda, who commanded the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia, had "failed to prevent or punish crimes by troops under his effective command or control", she said. But defence lawyers responded that the Ituri conflict had not had the ethnic character prosecutors were ascribing to it.
"The UPC was not a Hema militia - several commanders belonged to other ethnic groups, including those who took part in the events that form the basis for the charges today," said defence lawyer Marc Desalliers.
"The person before you is not Hema, and nor is he from the Ituri region. He grew up in the North Kivu province, he belongs to the Tutsi ethnic group."