The opening day of testimony at a landmark trial of an alleged Congo warlord ended in shambolic fashion today with the star first witness dramatically retracting his claim to have been a child soldier.
Amid concerns about his protection the witness, whose name and age were not released, told the International Criminal Court in the morning that he was recruited for a military training camp on his way home from primary school by soldiers under the ultimate command of Thomas Lubanga, the defendant.
But to the embarrassment of the prosecution, in the afternoon the witness started to contradict his account and suddenly suggested that he had been told what to say by an unnamed NGO (non-governmental organisation).
Congo warlord trained children to kill, court told - Clackamas Review