By: Chris Michael, Posted: Jan 26 09

Regions: Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Issues: Child soldiers, International criminal court, War crimes

"Personally it was a great moment; to see Lubanga finally into trial. It means a lot not only for me but for all organizations and individuals working to fight for justice for the most vulnerable, women and children, to fight impunity in all times."

- Bukeni Waruzi, WITNESS' Africa and the Middle East Program Coordinator; Former Executive Director of AJEDI-ka, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Watch Bukeni's vlog to hear his impressions on day one of the trial.

The first trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) commenced today with the trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga - and video played a prominent role. Lubanga, who has been in custody at The Hague for nearly three years, pleaded not guilty for commandeering children under the age of 15 and sending them to thefrontlines of the civil war.

The New York Times reports that in his opening statement, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the court, said Mr. Lubanga's militia "included children, some as young as 9 years old, who were used as cooks, cleaners, spies, scouts and sexual slaves. They were ordered to kill, pillage and rape, and they were often killed and raped themselves." According to my colleague Bukeni Waruzi, the chief prosecutor's opening statement was 70 minutes long and he used video to support his argument - 3 times. Bukeni's perspective, reporting from The Hague:

"The videos were used as direct evidence to prove that the children were under 15 years old, that Lubanga's deputy, Bosco Ntaganda, who now works with Laurent Nkunda was with Lubanga in some events during the course of the years 2002 and 2003, that some of these children were used as Lubanga's body guards. He declared that the girls in the Lubanga armed group, FLPC, were use as sexual slaves."

Watch this video from the courtroom and see how Moreno-Ocampo used video to support his statements - in particular minutes 7-10 (source: ICJ)

Bukeni goes on to add that one of the most unique factors of the ICC, in comparison to any other international court, "is that the victims have a say in the whole proceedings. They were represented by a counsel of 6 lawyers most of them from theDRC...and they also stressed out the importance of considering the issue of girl soldiers, highlighting the sexual slavery and sexual exploitation of girls in the Lubanga armed group."

We will keep following the trial, and this week Bukeni will be sharing daily vlogs from the Hague - see Day 1 below. Additionally, we are releasing installments of an in-depth, four-part series where Bukeni highlights his work on child soldiers in the DRC for the last two decades - find Part 1 below.

-- Additional Resources & Analysis from The Hague --

+ Read and watch an overview of WITNESS & AJEDI-ka's video advocacy work.

+ Bukeni has been quoted in numerous articles, which you can find a running list here; but, this article from the BBC is worth viewing to see video coverage from within the courtroom that shows chief prosecutor using video to support his arguments.