The Hague, Netherlands, Feb, 4 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has found infamous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 counts comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The atrocities according to the ICC were committed in Northern Uganda between July 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005.
The Hague based court composed of Judge Bertram Schmitt, Presiding Judge, Judge Péter Kovács and Judge Raul Cano Pangalangan, analysed the evidence submitted and discussed before it at trial and found, “beyond any reasonable doubt, that Mr Ongwen is guilty.”
The 45 year-old was among other charges found guilty of murder, attempted murder, torture, enslavement, pillaging, destruction of property and persecution, sexual and gender based crimes.
Others include forced marriage, rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy among others.
The ICC also made a historic ruling, a first for an International Court to convict a suspect of forced pregnancy.
“The Chamber found that Dominic Ongwen is fully responsible for all these crimes.The Chamber did not find evidence that supported the claim that he suffered from any mental disease or disorder during the period relevant to the charges or that he committed these crimes under duress or under any threats,” said Judge Bertram Schmitt, Presiding Judge.
Under the leadership of fugitive rebel Joseph Kony, the LRA terrorised Ugandans for nearly two decades as it battled the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in the North of the country and in what is now South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.
In 2004, the Ugandan government referred the conflict with the LRA to the ICC, the world’s first permanent tribunal for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
According to the United Nations, the LRA killed more than 100,000 people and abducted 60,000 children during reign of terror.
In 2015, Ongwen surrendered himself to authorities during a manhunt for LRA leader Joseph Kony and shortly after transferred to the ICC to face trial.
Trial in this case opened on 6 December 2016.
A former child soldier turn rebel commander, Ongwen is likely to face life imprisonment. Sentencing is however scheduled for a later date.
His legal team had sought an acquittal arguing that he suffered psychological damage as a result of being abducted as a child and was a, “victim and not a victim and perpetrator at the same time.”
A search for the LRA’s leader Joseph Kony is still ongoing.
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