Facts
From 1998 to 2003, Congolese forces supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe fought a variety of rebel armed groups backed by Rwanda and Uganda in what is known as the Second Congo War. In this context, the armed group RCD-N was created in 2000 to fight Congolese public forces and forged an alliance with the Mouvement pour la libération du Congo, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, in an attempt to take control of resource-rich areas in the eastern part of the DRC. In 2003, the United Nations published a report implicating the RCD-N in the perpetration of crimes against humanity, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, summary executions, torture, mutilation and cannibalism.
Roger Lumbala Tshitenga was the leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la démocratie – National (RCD-N). He was accused of participating in crimes that took place between 1 July 2002 and the end of December 2003 in the provinces of Ituri and Haut Uélé (northeastern DRC), in particular during a military operation labelled Effacer le tableau (Erase the Board).
In April 2003, he became minister for foreign trade in the transitional government following the inter-Congolese dialogue, until January 2005. He then became a member of parliament and a senator until 2013.
Procedure
In 2016, the French specialised unit for the prosecution of international crimes opened an investigation into Lumbala Tshitenga, after the rejection of his asylum application. Lumbala Tshitenga was arrested on 2 January 2021 in Paris and the case was referred to three investigating judges within the specialised unit.
On 2 January 2021, Lumbala Tshitenga was charged while under investigation (mis en examen) for his alleged participation in a group formed with a view to prepare the commission of crimes against humanity committed in the DRC between 2002 and 2003.
In the course of the investigation that lasted from 2021 to 2023, more than thirty Congolese victims and witnesses were heard by the justice authorities in Paris. Several eyewitnesses and expert witnesses were heard on the functioning and hierarchical structure of the RCD-N and on Lumbala Tshitenga’s alleged role in the preparation and perpetration of the crimes. The investigation shed light on the crimes committed during the military operation in the Beni-Mambasa-Bunia area by the alliance of the RCD-N and other armed groups toward the end of 2002. Evidence and testimonies were also gathered on crimes committed in Bafwasende and Isiro, areas controlled by the RCD-N in those years.
TRIAL International, the Clooney Foundation for Justice, Minority Rights Group, and the DRC-based NGO Justice Plus, all admitted as civil parties to the procedure, collaborated throughout the investigation to identify and support Congolese communities, victims, and survivors who provided evidence and shared their account with French judicial authorities.
In October 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected a motion introduced by Lumbala Tshitenga’s counsel seeking the dismissal of the proceedings on the basis of the judges’ supposed violation of the procedural requirement to verify that no extradition request had been issued regarding the suspect.
On 6 November 2023, the investigating judges indicted Lumbala Tshitenga for his alleged complicity in and conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity including murder, torture, rape, pillage and enslavement, including sexual slavery, in the DRC between 2002 and 2003. On 28 February 2024 the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the charges in full.
Lumbala Tshitenga’s counsel filed two appeals before the Supreme Court (Cour de cassation), one on the indictment and the second one on the rejection of the defendant’s motion to dismiss the proceedings for violation of the no extradition requirement. On 4 June 2024, the French Supreme Court joined the two appeals and rejected them both.
The trial of Lumbala Tshitenga opened before the Paris Criminal Court (cour d’assises) on 12 November 2025. Throughout the proceedings, the accused largely refused to participate in the hearings and contested the jurisdiction of the French courts. On 21 November 2025, the Court rejected the defendant’s challenge to its jurisdiction and confirmed that it had the authority to try the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing the trial to move forward with the hearing of witnesses and civil parties.
Over the course of five weeks of hearings, the Court heard extensive testimony from more than 60 people, in particular more than 20 Congolese survivors and victims, several representatives of non-governmental organisations that were civil parties and more than 30 witnesses, including United Nations investigators, journalists, experts, former members of the RCD-N, etc. The hearings focused on the structure and functioning of the RCD-N, the role allegedly played by Lumbala Tshitenga in the preparation and execution of military operations, and the commission of crimes against civilian populations in Ituri and Haut-Uélé between 2002 and 2003.
On 15 December 2025, the Court delivered its judgment, finding Roger Lumbala Tshitenga guilty of complicity in and conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity, namely murder, torture, rape, enslavement including sexual slavery and pillage as other inhumane acts, committed in the DRC between July 2002 and December 2003. The Court sentenced him to 30 years’ imprisonment and issued a permanent ban on his presence in French territory.
Highlight
Lumbala Tshitenga was the first Congolese national to be tried before a national court for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Second Congo War (1998-2003), and he is among the few former government officials to face such prosecution.
It was also the first universal jurisdiction case in France related to events that occurred in the DRC.
Additionally, this trial marks the first time that crimes committed during the Second Congo War were heard in a national court of law.