A/HRC/30/32 condemned him, in solidum with the State, to the payment of damages to the civil parties. On 7 November 2014, the High Military Court convicted General Jérôme Kakwavu for his individual and command responsibility for rape and war crimes, and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment. General Kakwavu was a former commander of the Forces armées du peuple congolais, a militia active in the district of Ituri between 2003 and 2005. Despite the length of the proceedings, the convictions of Colonel 106 and General Kakwavu represent an important step in the fight against impunity. 47. Other developments include the conviction of a former high-level commander of the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, Kizimi Lenine Sabin, for crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military Garrison Tribunal of Bukavu on 29 December 2014, after mobile court hearings supported by MONUSCO. On 17 November 2014, in Beni, the Military Operational Court of North Kivu rendered its judgement in the case concerning the assassination of Colonel Mamadou Ndala after a series of mobile court hearings held in Beni territory. The Court convicted five FARDC officers and six commanders of the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda for the assassination. 48. In November 2014, Justin Banakoli, alias “Cobra Matata”, leader of the Forces de résistance patriotiques en Ituri, indicated that he was going to surrender to FARDC, along with 812 of his combatants. However, negotiations with the Government failed as Cobra Matata insisted on a general amnesty for himself and his men, as well as integration of his forces into FARDC, with recognition of their ranks. He was arrested on several charges, including that of child recruitment, and transferred from Bunia to Kinshasa Ndolo military prison on 5 January 2015 with MONUSCO support. He is accused of desertion, forming a rebel movement, crimes against humanity, war crimes, child recruitment and attempting to escape from detention. 49. Many challenges remain in the fight against impunity and in the administration of justice. Several case files considered emblematic owing to the high number of victims or the nature of the violations and the profile of the perpetrators, remain unresolved due to lack of action by judicial authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable. OHCHR is concerned moreover about the lack of appeal for the accused, tried in first instance before the Cour militaire opérationnelle, the Supreme Court and the Military High Court, as well as the imposition of the death penalty, despite a de facto moratorium on its application since 2003. 50. On 2 June 2015, the National Assembly adopted draft legislation on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which the Democratic Republic of the Congo ratified in 2002. A large conference organized by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights was held, from 27 April to 2 May, to assess the situation of the justice system and suggest reforms. Several important recommendations relating to the fight against impunity and witness and victim protection were adopted on that occasion. 2. Action taken by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office 51. The sentencing of General Kakwavu and Colonel 106 marked the culmination of years of effort (seven in the case of Colonel 106) by MONUSCO and other national and international partners in the fight against impunity. The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office supported the process from the investigation, reporting and advocacy phases to the judicial investigation process and the trial. The Joint Office also worked closely with the authorities to set up a witness protection system allowing witnesses to testify without fear of reprisal and implemented protection measures for victims and witnesses throughout the pretrial and trial phases, which resulted in pretrial support being provided to 100 victims and in 80 victims testifying anonymously. 13