The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday sentenced Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier turned commander of the brutal Lord s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, to 25 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Dominic Ongwen, 45, was convicted in February on 61 counts, including forced pregnancy, which had never before been brought before the Hague-based ICC.
He was also found guilty of murder, rape, sexual slavery and conscripting child soldiers, among other charges. In light of the gravity of the crimes you have committed, the chamber sentences you to a total period of imprisonment of 25 years, Judge Bertram Schmitt said in addressing Ongwen.
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The International Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier who became a commander of the notorious Lord s Resistance Army (LRA), to 25 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ongwen, 45, whose nom de guerre was White Ant , was found guilty in February 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. In light of the gravity of the crimes that you committed. the Chamber sentences you to a total period of imprisonment of 25 years, presiding judge Bertram Schmitt said Thursday.
Presiding judge Bertram Schmitt sentenced Ongwen to a total period of 25 years in prison.
Ongwen and his men were responsible for attacks on refugee camps in northern Uganda.
The International Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier who became a commander in the notorious Lord s Resistance Army (LRA), to 25 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ongwen, 45 - whose nom de guerre was White Ant - was found guilty in February 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.
Dominic Ongwen is the first International Criminal Court defendant to have admitted to participating in some of the crimes with which he was charged.
Dominic Ongwen at the Dec. 6 opening of his trial at the International Criminal Court (Photo by ICC-CPI via Courthouse News)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) Marking the second-longest punishment it has ever given, the International Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced a Ugandan man who commanded the Lord’s Resistance Army to 25 years in prison.
“The decision today was especially difficult and weighed on the minds of all three of us,” Judge Bertram Schmitt told The Hague-based courtroom. The world’s only permanent court for atrocity crimes convicted Onwgen of 61 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in February, following a trial that lasted four years.
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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.