UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took note of the "milestone" decision taken by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to find the infamous commander of an African rebel group Dominic Ongwen guilty of crimes against humanity.
Earlier on Thursday, the ICC ruled that Ongwen, Uganda's commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerrilla group, guilty of committing over 60 war crimes and crimes against humanity that included murder, intentional attacks against civilians, rape, enslavement and forced marriage, among many others, that took place in Northern Uganda in 2002-2005.
"The Secretary-General takes note of the judgment issued today by the International ICC against Dominic Ongwen, a commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)," Dujarric said. "The judgment is a significant milestone in accountability and a step forward in efforts to bring justice to the victims of LRA crimes, and reaffirms that impunity will not be tolerated."
Guterres stressed that the court's decision marks the first time a criminal case involving forced marriage has been heard at the ICC.
"It highlights the critical need to eradicate sexual and gender-based violence," Guterres said.
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.
The LRA 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.
