THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Ugandan former rebel commander Dominic Ongwen was convicted on Thursday of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual enslavement, abducting children, torture and pillaging.
Judges at the International Criminal Court said Ongwen, who himself was taken by the Lord’s Resistance Army as a young boy, had acted out of free will in committing the 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.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch and Bart Meijer; Writing by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Jon Boyle)
