20100723
africanews

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The appeals panel of the International Criminal Court suspended on Friday the release of accused Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga, saying that freeing him could prevent his trial from resuming.

Trial judges at The Hague-based ICC ordered Lubanga's trial halted on July 8, saying prosecutors had not complied with an order to turn over certain information to his defence.

The court later ordered his release on the grounds he could not be held in custody if it were unclear when or if his trial would ever resume. Prosecutors appealed against that decision.

On Friday, the appeals judges granted their motion for a stay pending a decision from appeals judges.

"Appeals Chamber found that an immediate implementation of the order to release Mr Lubanga Dyilo could render the resumption of the trial impossible, should the Appeals Chamber later find in favour of the Prosecutor's appeals against the decision to stay proceedings and the oral decision to release the accused," the ICC said in a statement.

Lubanga is accused of enlisting and conscripting children aged under 15 for his Union of Congolese Patroits, to kill members of a rival tribe in the 1998-2003 war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has pleaded not guilty and described himself as a politician, not a warlord.