Former Congolese rebel leader Roger Lumbala goes on trial in Paris Wednesday over atrocities committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo's bloody eastern conflict more than two decades ago.

Lumbala, 67, is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role during the 1998-2003 Second Congo War, which saw more than a half-dozen African nations drawn into the globe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

He was arrested in France, where he owned a flat, under the principle of universal jurisdiction in December 2020 and has been held in a Paris prison since. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Human rights groups have hailed his trial as an opportunity to deter further abuses in the eastern DRC, where a Rwanda-backed militia's 2025 advance has fann

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