UPDATE 3-Former Ugandan rebel commander Ongwen sentenced to 25 years in prison Reuters 5/6/2021 Former child soldier convicted of charges from rape to murder Ongwen abducted at 9 years after parents slain by LRA Court notes horrific crimes including burning people alive ICC judges considered life sentence too harsh (Adds reaction from former LRA child soldier)
By Anthony Deutsch and Elias Biryabarema
AMSTERDAM/KAMPALA, May 6 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday sentenced a former Ugandan child soldier who became a commander of the rebel Lord s Resistance Army (LRA) to 25 years in prison for crimes including rape, sexual enslavement, child abduction, torture and murder.
Dominic Ongwen, who was taken into ICC custody in 2015, was convicted in February of 61 crimes including rape, sexual enslavement, child abductions, torture and murder.
Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said the panel of judges had considered sentencing Ongwen to life imprisonment, the court’s harshest punishment, but had sided against it due to the defendant’s own personal suffering.
Led by fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, the LRA terrorized Ugandans for nearly 20 years as it battled the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in northern Uganda and neighbouring countries. It has now largely been wiped out.
Ongwen was abducted by the group as a 9-year-old boy and forced into life of violence. At the same time, the judges found, he knowingly committed a vast range of heinous crimes as an adult, many of them against defenceless children and women who had been forced into slavery.
By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
AMSTERDAM, March 25 (Reuters) - New coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by nearly 8,000 in 24 hours, the fastest pace since early January, data released on Thursday showed.
The figures published by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) indicate a rising trend amid the country’s toughest lockdown during the pandemic. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch and Bart Meijer Editing by Gareth Jones)
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