MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2021) The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday found Dominic Ongwen, Uganda's infamous commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerrilla group, guilty of committing over 60 crimes, combining those against humanity and those occuring during war.
Ongwen, who was abducted by the LRA group to be a child militant and then rose to the high-ranking position, was arrested and placed in ICC detention in early 2015, ten years after the court issued an arrest warrant for his capture. The trial on his case lasted from December 2016 to March 2020.
"Today, 4 February 2021, Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "Court") found Dominic Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005," the court said in a statement.
It added that the decision on a sentence would exclude the death penalty perspective and might involve a prison sentence of 30 years to life, and a fine.
Notably, Ongwen was initially charged with a total of seven offenses - namely, four counts of war crimes, including murder, the cruel treatment of civilians, the intentional management of an assault against a civilian population and pillaging. The other three charges included three counts of crimes against humanity - namely, murder, enslavement and torture. During the trial, other charges were brought up, including sexual and gender-based crimes, as well as the use of children in hostilities.
The Lord's Resistance Army is a rebel group founded in 1987 in Northern Uganda against the government of incumbent President Yoweri Museveni. The organization later expanded its actives to the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The group, previously included on the US' list of terrorist organizations, is notorious for its brutal deeds, including murder, child-sex slavery, torture, child abduction and others.
