A/HRC/24/33 Government should also establish a national human rights commission in accordance with the relevant international principles. 2. Action taken by the Government and current situation 48. Some positive developments were registered in the fight against impunity, some of which resulted from activities conducted with the support of the Joint Human Rights Office. The developments included the conviction by the South Kivu military court, in May 2012, of 15 FARDC officers who had deserted the Congolese army in April 2012 in an attempt to join M23, many of whom had extensive records of human rights violations.38. Another development was the surrender to the International Criminal Court, in March 2013, of General Bosco Ntaganda. Judicial investigations are also ongoing against Mai-Mai Simba/Lumumba combatants for serious human rights violations committed between March 2012 and March 2013 in several localities of Mambasa territory. Approximately 20 Mai-Mai combatants are currently detained and awaiting trial at the central prison of Bunia. 49. A lack of progress was, however, noted with regard to several cases of mass rape and other serious human rights violations documented by the Joint Human Rights Office. For instance, no development was observed in investigations into the mass rape and other human rights violations committed, at the end of December 2010 and in early January 2011, in Bushani and Kalambahiro, in Masisi territory, North Kivu.39 Despite advocacy by MONUSCO and the Joint Human Rights Office with regard to the mass rape and other human rights violations committed in Minova,40 to date only two low-ranking soldiers have been charged with rape and, while 12 FARDC officers have been suspended, none of them has yet been arrested. Furthermore, numerous escapes from prisons and holding cells are undermining efforts of the judiciary to fight impunity. The deplorable living conditions of detainees and the lack of sufficient prison personnel prompt riots and prison escapes. During the occupation of Goma by M23 in November 2012, all detainees of the prison escaped, including an FARDC major, the only defendant in the Walikale mass rape trial of July-August 2010.41 The destruction of judicial files at the North Kivu military court in Goma, in November 2012, was another major setback for the judiciary in its efforts to combat impunity. 50. After a period of stagnation, some progress was made in the prosecution of two of the five army officers whose names were on a list given to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by members of the Security Council during their visit in May 2009. The trial of General Kakwavu for war crimes and crimes against humanity resumed before the High Military Court in Kinshasa on 19 April 2013. Lieutenant Colonel Bedi Mobuli Engangela (alias Colonel 106), who has been accused of war crimes and 38 39 40 41 Thirteen of the accused who were present at the trial were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two years to life imprisonment, while two were sentenced in absentia to the death penalty. Three officers were acquitted. See the report of the investigation missions of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed in the villages of Bushani and Kalambahiro, in Masisi territory, North Kivu, on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011, July 2011 (available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/UNJHROReportMassRapesBushani_en.pdf). See the report of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office on human rights violations perpetrated by soldiers of the Congolese Armed Forces and combatants of the M23 in Goma and Sake, North Kivu province, and in and around Minova (see footnote 22). See the final report of the fact-finding missions of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed by a coalition of armed groups along the Kibua-Mpofi axis in Walikale territory, North Kivu, from 30 July to 2 August 2010, July 2011 (available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/BCNUDHRapportViolsMassifsKibuaMpofi_en.pdf). 15