"The chamber acquits Mathieu Ngudjolo of all the crimes against him," presiding Judge Bruno Cotte said. Dressed in a dark suit and tie and a white shirt, Ngudjolo listened impassively as the judge cleared him on seven war crimes counts and three counts of crimes against humanity, including murder.
The verdict in the case of Ngudjolo, a former leader of the Nationalist Integrationist Front (FNI) militia group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is the second for the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal and its first acquittal. Cotte stressed the acquittal did not mean the court felt no crimes were committed in Bogoro village but rather that witness testimony had been "too contradictory and too hazy". Ngudjolo was once one of the most important militia leaders in the north-eastern mineral-rich Ituri region.
Now 42, he was accused of using child soldiers to fight for him, including to carry out the massacre of 200 people at Bogoro on February 24, 2003. The court heard in May how victims of the massacre were burnt alive, babies smashed against walls and women forced to serve as sex slaves.
Judge Cotte said the acquittal did not "put into question what happened to the people on that day". But, he said, there was no evidence to show that Ngudjolo was the commander of the militia or that he was "able to impose his authority as a soldier". The court is to rule from 1600 GMT on whether Ngudjolo should be released pending a possible appeal trial, with prosecutors arguing he poses a flight risk.