ICC sentences LRA Commander Ongwen to 25years in Jail

By Our Reporter

6^th May 2021

The Hague based International Criminal Court (ICC) has handed Dominic Ongwen, a former commander in the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army-LRA a 25-year jail term.

A panel of three justices led by Bertam Schmitt delivered the verdict on Thursday morning.

The other judges on the panel are Peter Kouvacs and Raul Cano Panga-langan.

The justices noted that they decided to jail the former warlord for 25 years because of the magnitude of the atrocities he committed so as to deter similar offenses in the future and prove the position of the world in condemning the atrocities committed by the LRA.

However, Justice Raul had opted for a 30-year jail term, saying on grounds that the 61 counts slapped against Ogwen were not light offenses.

According to the ICC, Ongwen will serve his sentence outside the ICC but in a yet to be identified facility in one of the state parties to the ICC.

The judges also said that the process of reparation for the LRA victims will commence immediately. The ICC convicted Ongwen, 45, in February this year on 61 crimes including rape, sexual enslavement, child abductions, torture and murder as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He reportedly committed the crimes in Northern Uganda between 2002 and 2005 in Abok, Lu-kodi, Odek and Pajule Internally Displaced Camps. During the trial, the prosecutions led by Fatou Bensouda had asked the court to hand Ongwen over 25-years in jail.

However, Ongwen`s defense team led by Krispus Oyena asked the court to give their client a jail term of less than ten years because he was a victim of the same situation following his abduction as a young boy.

Ongwen, who surrendered in 2015, is the first LRA top commander to be convicted by the ICC.