Almost 15 years since the start of the FDLR's deadly campaign in Congo, leaders of the militia have been held to account for their crimes. Human Rights Watch reports:
On September 28, 2015, a court in Stuttgart, Germany, convicted Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni, the president and vice president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda, FDLR), and sentenced them to 13 and 8 years in prison, respectively. Murwanashyaka was found guilty of war crimes in relation to five FDLR attacks in eastern Congo and of leading a terrorist organization. Musoni was found guilty of leading a terrorist organization but acquitted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Despite this landmark victory, the FDLR continues to carry out deadly attacks, most recently killing three soldiers and five civilian women in a retaliatory raid on a Congolese army camp. The FDLR is primarily based in eastern Congo, where it funds its operations in a variety of deadly and destructive ways, including charcoal trafficking in Virunga National Park and pillaging gold.