(credit: icc-cpi.int) Dominic Ongwen alleged Brigade Commander of Sinia Brigade of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Uganda at time of arrest warrant in 2005.
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Thursday found Uganda rebel commander leader Dominic Ongwen guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between July 2002 and December 2005. The ICC war tribunal is based in The Hague, Netherlands. Ongwen was accused of 70 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery and using child soldiers, between 2002 and 2004 in northern Uganda when he led a brigade of the LRA. He was found guilty of 61 out of 70 counts.
“The Chamber found that these crimes were committed in the context of the armed rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)against the government of Uganda. 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”
-ICC Trial Chamber IX Finding Feb. 04, 2021
Dominic Ongwen during the verdict before the International Criminal Court on 4 February 2021 ©ICC-CPI
ICC Trial Chamber IX, 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 of the following crimes:
- attacks against the civilian population as such, murder, attempted murder, torture, enslavement, outrages upon personal dignity, pillaging, destruction of property and persecution; committed in the context of the four specified attacks on the Internally Displaced Persons camps (“IDP camps”) Pajule (10 October 2003), Odek (29 April 2004), Lukodi (on or about 19 May 2004) and Abok (8 June 2004);
- sexual and gender based crimes, namely, forced marriage, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, forced pregnancy and outrages upon personal dignity he committed against seven women (whose names and individual stories are specified in the judgment) who were abducted and placed into his household;
- A number of further sexual and gender based crimes he committed against girls and women within the Sinia brigade, namely forced marriage, torture, rape, sexual slavery and enslavement; and
- The crime of conscripting children under the age of 15 into the Sinia brigade and using them to participate actively in hostilities
Following the verdict, the Chamber will impose on Dominic Ongwen the sentence for the crimes of which he has been convicted. The ICC said for this purpose, it will receive submissions on the appropriate sentence by the Prosecutor, the Defence for Dominic Ongwen and the legal representatives of the participating victims.
Dominic Ongwen Faces Life in Prison
The ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, does not provide for a death penalty; the sentence may be up to 30 years of imprisonment (and under exceptional circumstances a life imprisonment) and/or a fine. The ICC said a phase dedicated to the reparations to victims will be opened.
