The International Criminal Court on Monday convicted Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, reported BBC.
The 45-year-old also referred to as Terminator was convicted of all 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity, including overseeing the slaughter of civilians by his soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri region in 2002 and 2003. He was first indicted in 2006.
During his trial, Ntaganda maintained his innocence and told judges that he was a soldier, not a criminal. He faces a maximum life sentence following his convictions at the global court. He showed no emotion as the judgment was passed by Presiding Judge Robert Fremr.
Fremr said that Ntaganda was found involved in a string of crimes including murders, rapes of men and women, and of a massacre in a banana field behind a building called The Paradiso and of enlisting and using child soldiers.
A total of 102 witnesses testified at Ntaganda’s trial, including a woman who survived having her throat slit by Ntaganda’s forces.
Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, welcomed the conviction.
“We can only hope that today’s verdict provides some consolation to those affected by the grotesque crimes perpetrated by Ntaganda and paves the way for his victims and their families to finally obtain a measure of justice and reparations,” Nyanyuki said.
Ntaganda is one of five Congolese rebel leaders who appeared before the ICC, which was set up in 2002 as an independent international body to prosecute those accused of the world’s worst crimes. His former FPLC commander Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2012.
Ntaganda has 30 days time to appeal the court’s judgment. A separate hearing will be scheduled to determine his sentence.
