THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS The International Criminal Court sentenced a Ugandan former child soldier who turned into a brutal rebel commander to 25 years imprisonment Thursday, with judges saying that his own abduction as a schoolboy and history as a child soldier prevented him being sentenced to life. Dominic Ongwen was convicted in February of a total of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, forced marriage, forced pregnancy and using child soldiers as a commander in the shadowy Lord s Resistance Army. His lawyers have said they will appeal the conviction. Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said that judges had to weigh Ongwen s brutality and victims wishes for justice against his own tortured past when deciding on a sentence.
Former Ugandan child soldier-turned-rebel commander sentenced to 25 years at ICC
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06/05/2021 - 14:38 Dominic Ongwen, a senior commander in Uganda s Lord s Resistance Army (LRA), looks on at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, on December 6, 2016. AFP - PETER DEJONG 4 min The International Criminal Court sentenced a Ugandan former child soldier who turned into a brutal rebel commander to 25 years imprisonment Thursday, with judges saying that his own abduction as a schoolboy and history as a child soldier prevented him being sentenced to life. Advertising Read more
Dominic Ongwen was convicted in February of a total of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, forced marriage, forced pregnancy and using child soldiers as a commander in the shadowy Lord’s Resistance Army. His lawyers have said they will appeal the conviction.
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Former Ugandan child soldier, Dominic Ongwen who became one of the top commanders of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, Aljazeera reports.
Ongwen was sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Uganda after being found guilty of 61 charges including murders, rapes, and sexual enslavement during a reign of terror in the early 2000s by the LRA, led by the fugitive Joseph Kony.
ICC Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt, who passed the judgment on Thursday, May 6 said judges had to weigh Ongwen’s brutality with his own tortured past as a schoolboy abducted by the LRA when deciding on a sentence.
Taarifa Rwanda
Published 3 days ago
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At last justice has been dispensed as the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed a 25-year sentence to Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Major General Dominique Ongwen.
Back home in Uganda, South Sudan and Central African Republic where Gen. Ongwen wrecked havoc, families of victims and other people that suffered during his terror operations are now jubilating at the court’s rule on Thursday.
However, Gen. Ongwen who was present during court’s judgement, seemed not bothered. He remained passive as he heard the 25-year sentence handed down to him.
“I am before this international court with so many charges, and yet I am the first victim of child abduction. What happened to me I do not even believe happened to Jesus Christ,” Gen. Ongwen said.