After three years of concerted pressure by Amnesty International and local human rights organizations Arche d’Alliance and Solidarité des femmes activistes pour la défense des droits humains (SOFAD), we at last have good news to report on the case of Bitondo Nyumba. A military tribunal will begin to hear the case against the alleged perpetrators in Uvira on 4 August 2008 and will conduct a special session in Katungulu, Bitondo Nyumba’s village, where the rape took place, to hear testimony from witnesses. The international legal NGO Avocats sans Frontières are providing a lawyer to represent the interests of the victim and her family in the trial.

Amnesty International cards and letters have helped considerably to keep this case alive. In May 2008 the Uvira NGOs expressed thanks for cards that were still continuing to arrive from all parts of the world on Bitondo’s case. Baudouin Kipaka, president of Arche d’Alliance, wrote that the cards are for us a strong signal of encouragement in our fight to have the truth revealed in this affair. On 7 May, the third anniversary of Bitondo Nyumba’s death, the NGOs held a public display of the cards they had received, to which they invited local authorities and Bitondo Nyumba’s family.

We will keep you updated on the outcome of the trial.