A/HRC/7/25 page 7 10. Another step forward for international justice was the transfer of Germain Katanga, the militia leader of Force de résistance patriotique en Ituri (Patriotic Resistance Front in Ituri) (FRPI), to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the night of 16-17 October 2007, with the assistance of the Congolese authorities. Germain Katanga is accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in Ituri in 2002 and 2003, including in Nyakunde in September 2002, when at least 1,200 civilians were massacred on his orders. Germain Katanga is suspected of having orchestrated many other massacres, including those in Bunia, Komanda and Bogoro, where thousands of civilians were tortured, enslaved and killed. 11. Lastly, the imminent deployment of the team of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights responsible for mapping the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law between 1993 and 2003 should make it possible to develop appropriate mechanisms to obtain justice for the victims of past crimes. 12. Notwithstanding the aforementioned examples, impunity remains flagrant. The persistence of impunity has resulted in a failure to initiate judicial investigations into serious human rights violations, lack of progress on cases that have been opened (in particular when there is interference by political and military authorities - see paragraphs 13 and 14 below), or even sham trials. B. Failure to initiate investigations: the flagrant example of North Kivu 13. There are many cases of human rights violations that have not been investigated, despite the information sent to the judicial authorities by MONUC or local NGOs. Even when judicial cases are opened, investigations are rarely concluded. This phenomenon is particularly flagrant in North Kivu, where no trials have been held for cases of serious human rights violations. There is no shortage of cases, however; MONUC and several international and local NGOs regularly send information to the judicial authorities. MONUC has furthermore facilitated joint inquiry missions of the United Nations Human Rights Integrated Office and the military prosecutor’s office. In its public report of September 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Integrated Office, following a joint inquiry with members of the Goma military prosecutor’s office, confirmed allegations about three mass graves located at the former headquarters of the 2nd battalion of the FARDC Bravo Brigade in Rubare, in Rutshuru territory, 65 kilometres north of Goma. Joint verification missions were carried out by MONUC and the Congolese judicial authorities in Rubare, as well as in Katwiguru and Kiseguru, where other mass graves were discovered. The judicial investigation does not seem to have progressed since then. 14. As regards the Buramba massacre committed during the night of 9-10 March 2007, the military prosecutor’s office sent a special investigation team to the scene in March 2007, but the case has not been followed up. C. Stalling of many cases and trials 15. At present, many important cases are making no progress through the judicial system and remain stalled. A case in point is that of the Ituri warlords arrested in March 2005, whose detention continues to be extended without any trial proceedings in sight. The trial of the former Mai-Mai chief Tshindja Tshindja (the “throat-cutter”), who has been in detention in Kinshasa