Amsterdam - The alleged victims of former a Congolese militia leader being tried in the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday became the first victims of war crimes to be represented as equal parties in the case, alongside the prosecution and the defence.

A total of 93 victims have been accepted as party to the trial in which Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is charged with recruiting child soldiers in the bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1998 and 2003.

The 48-year-old former head of the Union of Congolese Patriots party opened on Monday became the first war crimes suspect to be brought before the ICC in The Hague, the first permanent international tribunal for war crimes.

Prosecutors accuse Lubanga of developing and operating an entire child soldier infrastructure in the final years of the civil war.

Attorney Paolina Massida, representing the victims of crimes allegedly committed by Lubanga and his militia, said: "In the past, victims were considered to be simple witnesses."

She referred to the cases heard by international tribunals of Nuremburg, the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda for war crimes and crimes against humanity. (dpa)