On February 24, 2003 a militia from the National Integrationist Front–many of them child soldiers–attacked the village of Bogoro in Ituri, a restive province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. 200 civilians were killed in the attack, prisoners were thrown into a locked house with decaying corpses, and women and girls were enslaved by the marauding force.
Not long ago, an attack like this would simply go unpunished–and in all likelihood, unnoticed. But not today. The International Criminal Court announced the arrest and detention of the leader of the attack, one Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui. DRC authorities arrested Ngudjolo, handed him over to ICC authorities where he was transported from DRC to the Hague. He is currently in prison in the Hague awaiting arraignment.
I, for one, am thankful to be living in an era in which crimes like this do not go unpunished. Visit the Coalition for the International Criminal Court to see how you can help end the era of impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity.