More than anything, he appeared bewildered to be sitting in jail. Rape is common, he said, but punishment is rare. "As far as I know, I'm the first to be accused."
At first he claimed to remember nothing about the attack because he was drunk. Then he insisted that the woman had consented to sex in exchange for $2. Finally, he confessed to the rape.
"I don't know what to say," he said, his voice drifting off into an almost inaudible whisper. "Since that day I have no peace. I know it's bad, but if God can help me get out of this prison, I will never do it again."
Kandoni faces up to 20 years in jail, said Jean Blaise Bwa-Mulundu, the military prosecutor. This year Bwa-Mulundu has filed 33 rape cases against soldiers, which he hopes will serve as a deterrent.
Ndongo-Koni's legal clinic has filed 35 cases since opening in the spring, with an additional 160 complaints pending. Ndongo-Koni, a former United Nations human rights officer in the Darfur region of Sudan, also tried Rwandan genocide suspects at the international tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. Now, he is bringing international legal standards to the group's quickly growing caseload.
Medical exams are used to provide evidence of forced sexual contact. There's no DNA lab, but occasionally traces of the attacker's blood link him to the assault.
The legal unit set up an office at the town's major hospital to advise women about their rights. It conducts seminars in major towns to educate and sensitize judges, attorneys and police investigators.
Another local charity, Justice Restoration for the Democratic Republic of Congo, is targeting rural areas that have no courthouses. The group this month plans to set up a mobile courtroom in a remote village north of Goma, paying to bring in judges and attorneys for one month to prosecute 14 rape cases against soldiers.
Prosecutions of sexual assault cases have been aided by a 2006 federal law. Among other things, the law doubled the usual maximum sentence to 20 years and provided for life sentences under special circumstances. Rape investigations were given priority, to be completed within three months.
Sex between an adult and a girl or boy younger than 18, even if consensual, is also now considered rape and subject to the same penalties.
Some judges and attorneys criticized the law, which was copied from an international model of best practices in various Western countries. Critics said it conflicts with existing Congolese statutes, such as one that permits girls to marry at age 15.
