[JURIST] Defense counsel for convicted war criminal Germain Katanga [ICC backgrounder] discontinued their appeal [press release] Wednesday, effectively finalizing the International Criminal Court’s [official website] judgment against him in March. Katanga, the alleged commander of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) rebel group Force de refsistance patriotique en Ituri (FRPI) was found guilty [JURIST report] of four counts of war crimes and one count of crime against humanity. Katanga was sentenced [JURIST report] by the court to a total of 12 years in prison, but the court deducted the time between 2007 and 2014 that he has been incarcerated at the ICC. The ICC still has yet to render a decision on reparations for the victims of he 2003 attack.

Earlier this week Fatou Bensouda [official profile], Prosecutor of the ICC announced [JURIST report] that a preliminary investigation into North Korean attacks on South Korea did not satisfy the Rome Statute [text] requirements necessary to initiate a full ICC investigation. Also in June Chief prosecutor Bensouda urged [JURIST report] the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take action to end the conflict in Darfur [JURIST news archive] and bring perpetrators to justice. Earlier this month the head of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) strongly condemned [JURIST report] an outbreak of deadly violence in the eastern areas of the DRC, sparked by a confrontation over cattle.