Former Congo rebel leader Lumbala sentenced to 30 years over wartime atrocities

Ex-Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala was sentenced Monday in France to 30 years in prison over atrocities committed two decades ago during the Second Congo War, in a verdict that rights groups hailed as overcoming long-standing impunity in the Congo. Lumbala was found guilty in a Paris criminal court on charges of “complicity of crimes against humanity.” The 67-year-old led the Congolese Rally for National Democracy, a rebel group backed by neighboring Uganda and accused of atrocities against civilians, particularly targeting the Nande and Bambuti ethnic minorities in eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003.