Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (born 29 December 1960) is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict (1999–2007). Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations, including ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.
On 17 March 2006, Lubanga became the first person arrested under a warrant issued by the ICC.BBC News (17 March 2006). DR Congo rebel faces Hague trial. Retrieved 7 January 2009. His trial, for the war crime of "conscripting and enlisting minors under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities," began on 26 January 2009,Mike Corder (26 January 2009). International court begins case of Congo warlord. The Associated Press. Retrieved 26 January 2009. and he was found guilty on 14 March 2012, and faced a sentence of up to 30 years. On 10 July 2012, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Lubanga to a total period of 14 years of imprisonment, also ordering that the time from Lubanga's surrender to the ICC in 2006 until the sentencing day should be deducted from the 14-year term, which meant he would spend 6 fewer years in prison.All Africa (10 July 2012)"" Retrieved 10 July 2012. He was released from prison in 2020. In early 2025 he established a new militia in the DRC.
Early life and family Lubanga was born on 29 December 1960 in Djiba in the Ituri Province of the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville).International Criminal Court (10 February 2006). . Retrieved 7 January 2009. He is of the Hema-Gegere ethnic group.The Hague Justice Portal (30 August 2006). Lubanga charged with war crimes . Retrieved 7 January 2009. He studied at the University of Kisangani and has a degree in psychology. He is married and has seven children.Reuters (29 January 2007). FACTBOX —- Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga faces ICC trial. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
Ituri conflict During the Second Congo War, Lubanga was a military commander and "minister of defence" in the pro-Uganda Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML).IRIN (20 April 2005). DRC: Who's who in Ituri – militia organisations, leaders. Retrieved 7 January 2009. In July 2001, he founded another rebel group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). In early 2002, Lubanga was sidelined from the military control of the RCD-ML and he split from the group.IRIN (2002). DRC: Chronology of key events: 2 August 1998 – 14 December 2002. Retrieved 7 January 2009. In September 2002, he became President of the UPC and founded its military wing, the Patriotic Force for the Liberation of the Congo (FPLC).IRIN. DRC: Opinion split in Ituri over rebel's indictment. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
Under Lubanga's leadership, the largely Hema UPC became one of the main actors in the Ituri conflict between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups. It seized control of Bunia, capital of the gold-rich Ituri region, in 2002, and demanded that the Congolese government recognise Ituri as an autonomous province.IRIN. DRC: Ituri: Views from Kinshasa. Retrieved 7 January 2009. Lubanga was arrested on 13 June 2002 while on a mission to Kinshasa but he was released ten weeks later in exchange for a kidnapped government minister.
Human Rights Watch has accused the UPC, under Lubanga's command, of "ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape and mutilation, as well as the recruitment of child soldiers".Human Rights Watch (16 March 2006). D.R. Congo: ICC Arrest First Step to Justice. Retrieved 7 January 2009. Between November 2002 and June 2003, the UPC allegedly killed 800 civilians on the basis of their ethnicity in the gold mining region of Mongbwalu. Between 18 February and 3 March 2003, the UPC are reported to have destroyed 26 villages in one area, killing at least 350 people and forcing 60,000 to flee their homes.United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004). Special report on the events in Ituri, January 2002 – December 2003, pp. 23–24. S/2004/573. Human rights organisations claim that at one point Lubanga had 3,000 young soldiers between the ages of 8 and 15.Nora Boustany (5 November 2006). "Tribunal to Debut With Congo Case". Washington Post, p. A21. Retrieved 7 January 2009. He reportedly ordered every family in the area under his control to help the war effort by donating something: money, a cow, or a child to join his militia.IRIN (20 April 2005). In-Depth: Justice for a Lawless World? Rights and reconciliation in a new era of international law. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
The UPC was forced out of Bunia by the Ugandan army in March 2003. Lubanga later moved to Kinshasa and registered the UPC as a political party,Wendel Broere (17 March 2006). Congo hands first suspect to Hague war crimes court. Reuters. Retrieved 7 January 2009. but was arrested on 19 March 2005Trial Watch (2008). Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. Retrieved 7 January 2009. in connection with the killing of nine Bangladeshi United Nations peacekeepers in Ituri on 25 February 2005.IRIN (22 March 2005). DRC: Another key Ituri leader arrested. Retrieved 7 January 2009. He was initially detained in one of Kinshasa's most luxurious hotels but after a few months he was transferred to Kinshasa's central prison.Arnaud Zajtman (9 November 2006). Profile: DR Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga. BBC News. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
In January 2025, in its report on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations group of experts accused Thomas Lubanga of supporting armed groups, Zaire in Ituri and the March 23 (M23) movement.RDC: un rapport des Nations unies accuse Thomas Lubanga de soutenir des groupes armés dans l'est du pays. Retrieved 11 January 2025.In March 2025 Lubanga established a new armed militia in the Ituri Province in the DRC, the CRP (Convention pour la Révolution Populaire, Convention for the Popular Revolution), refusing to join the local Aru-II peace process there, instead undermining it. He aligned his militia with the M23 movement, which (by the end of 2025) controlled large parts of the eastern DRC. By mid-September 2025, clashes of the CRP with the Congolese Armed Forces had already caused dozens of civilian casualties.Security Council document S/2025/590 (Report of the Secretary General on the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), of 19 September 2025, paragraphs 21, 25 and 43. Lubanga created his militia "to respond to the scandalously blatant abdication of the state's sovereign duty to ensure the safety of people and their property".Est de la RDC: la création en Ituri de la CRP de Thomas Lubanga constitue une menace pour les civils et la sécurité régionale (Bintou Keita), Actualite-CD, 27 March 2025. Accessed on 10 december 2025.
Trial
In March 2004, the Congolese government authorised the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute "crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court allegedly committed anywhere in the territory of the DRC since the entry into force of the Rome Statute, on 1 July 2002."International Criminal Court (19 April 2004). Prosecutor receives referral of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo . Retrieved 7 January 2009.International Criminal Court (23 June 2004). The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opens its first investigation . Retrieved 7 January 2009. On 10 February 2006, a Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Lubanga bore individual criminal responsibility for the war crime of "conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities", and issued a sealed warrant for his arrest.
On 17 March 2006, Lubanga became the first person arrested under an ICC arrest warrant, when the Congolese authorities arrested him and transferred him into ICC custody.International Criminal Court (17 March 2006). First arrest for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved 7 January 2009.Alexandra Hudson (18 March 2006). Congo suspect to face war crimes charges. Reuters. Retrieved 7 January 2009. He was flown to the Hague, where he was held in the ICC detention centre since 17 March 2006. Before embarking the plane, Lubanga wept openly. As of January 2009, he is one of four people being detained by the ICC, including two rebels who fought against Lubanga in the Ituri conflict: Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui. His trial opened on 26 January 2009.
On 14 March 2012 Lubanga was found guilty of abducting boys and girls under the age of 15 and forcing them to fight in a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003. He faced a maximum sentence of 30 years when sentenced in July 2012.
Sentence On 10 July 2012, Lubanga was sentenced for 14 years by the ICC The sentencing was a landmark for the first permanent international criminal court, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Presiding judge Adrian Fulford said the time Lubanga had spent in the court's detention centre in The Hague would be taken into account, meaning his sentence had only 8 more years to run.Reuters, Congo warlord jailed for 14 years in landmark case (10 July 2012)"" Retrieved 10 July 2012.
During the first review in October 2015, Lubanga pleaded with ICC judges to grant him early release, promising to promote reconciliation and offering "sincere apologies for all victims for the suffering they endured". In September 2015, judges decided not to reduce Lubanga’s sentence after finding that there were no factors in favor of his early release. They found no evidence that he had genuinely dissociated from his crimes and also determined that Lubanga had not taken any significant action for the benefit of victims of his crimes. In the second review decision, judges ruled that there had been no changes in Lubanga’s cooperation with the court or in his actions to benefit victims. In December 2015, Lubanga was transferred to the DRC to serve the rest of his sentence from his home country’s Makala Central Prison.
In November 2017, ICC judges Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Howard Morrison, and Piotr Hofmańsk declined to reduce Lubanga’s sentence, after determining that since the initial review of the sentence two years earlier, there had been no significant change in circumstances to warrant his early release. The judges also stated that they saw no reason to schedule a further review of Lubanga’s sentence.Lubanga, ICC Convict No.1 and Longest-Serving Detainee, Completes His Sentence Next Week
On 15 March 2020, Lubanga was released after serving the 14-year sentence.DRC: Former warlord Thomas Lubanga freed after serving 14-year sentence
Controversies Lubanga's trial, the ICC's first, led to several controversies:Victor Tsilonis, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo: the Chronicle of a Case Foretold, 2008 (05) Intellectum, pp.27–42,