The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands has convicted former Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In reading out detailed descriptions of atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) — a ruthless guerrilla group that operated in northern Uganda — an ICC judge said that Ongwen was convicted of dozens of crimes, including sexual enslavement, child abductions, torture and murder – including the killings of infants.
In total, the ICC found him guilty of 61 out of 70 alleged counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He will be sentenced at a later date, and could face life behind bars.
For more than 20 years, LRA fighters subjected northern Uganda to a reign of terror before withdrawing to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.
Ongwen was himself abducted by the LRA group, led by warlord Joseph Kony, as a young child, and he was later given military training by senior leaders of the rebel group before eventually becoming an LRA commander.
Judges told the court that despite the fact that Ongwen was taken by the LRA as a young child, he had acted out of free will in committing crimes between 2002 and 2005.
“There exists no ground excluding Dominic Ongwen’s criminal responsibility. His guilt has been established beyond any reasonable doubt,” Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said.
In a legal first, Ongwen was also convicted for the crime of forced pregnancy for atrocities committed against seven women.
“As a result of the sexual and physical violence and the living conditions to which they were submitted, the abducted women and girls suffered severe, barely imaginable physical and mental pain.”
Judge Schmitt
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During the trial, the ICC heard how Ongwen ordered the killing and abduction of many civilians during attacks on camps protected by Ugandan government forces.
He also personally took sex slaves and forced children to fight in hostilities. Abductees were beaten to death if they were unable to walk.
The court was also told how babies were taken from their mothers and thrown away so they could carry looted goods to LRA’s camps.
His case is the first at the ICC to involve an alleged perpetrator and victim of the same war crimes. He pleaded not guilty when the proceedings began in 2016, and has denied the charges.
Reacting to the verdict, New York-based Human Rights Watch said “The LRA terrorised the people of northern Uganda and its neighbouring countries for more than two decades.
“One LRA leader has at last been held to account at the ICC for the terrible abuses victims suffered.”
The group noted that LRA head Kony has evaded justice for more than 15 years and called on countries to help secure his arrest and transfer to The Hague for trial.
Kony and the LRA garnered worldwide attention in 2012 following the release of a 30-minute documentary titled Kony 2012 by US filmmaker Jason Russell for the campaign group Invisible Children, Inc.
