The military tribunal of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has put on trial soldiers who committed group rape in the northwestern province of Equator, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country said Wednesday.

Kemal Saiki, spokesman for the UN mission in DR Congo known as MONUC, told reporters that 12 perpetrators appeared in court on Wednesday in Mbandaka, capital of the province.

This was the first trial held by the military tribunal against the soldiers charged with anti-humanity crimes, MONUC spokeswoman Rachel Eklou Assogbavi said, adding that MONUC was paying great attention to the trial.

According to an investigation released by UN human rights officials, the group rape involved a battalion of soldiers stationed in Nsongo-Mboyo, situated 600 km northeast of the provincial capital of Mbandaka. They

went on the rampage on the night of Dec. 21, 2003, looting and raping 119 women in Nsongo-Mboyo and nearby Bongandanga.

The soldiers, who accused their officers of corruption, had formerly belonged to the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement headed by Jean-Pierre Bemba. Bemba became one of the four vice presidents in July 2003 in the power-sharing transitional government led by President Joseph Kabila.

Source: Xinhua