(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. 

-DIPLOMATIC TIMES  Staff

The International Criminal Court on Monday transferred Dominic Ongwen, a former commander in the brutal rebel group in Uganda Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), to a prison in Norway to serve his sentence. In 2021,  the ICC sentenced the former child soldier to 25 years in prison for war crimes including murder, rape, sexual enslavement, child abduction, and torture. The LRA terrorized Ugandans for nearly two decades as it battled the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in northern Uganda and neighbouring countries. 

The Hague-Based ICC Worked With Norwegian and Dutch Authorities in Transfer 

“The transfer of Mr Ongwen to Norway occurred with the close cooperation of the Norwegian authorities and the support of the Dutch authorities,” the ICC said in a statement.  Ongwen is the fifth person transferred by The Hague-based war tribunal to a state that has indicated its willingness to accept sentenced persons, according to the ICC.  In 2023, the Presidency of the ICC designated Norway as the State of enforcement for the sentence of imprisonment of Ongwen, pursuant to article 103 of the Rome Statute.

LRA Rebel Faced A Life Sentence

Dominic Ongwen, a former senior commander in the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, at the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands before sentencing May 6,  2021. (Credit: icc.int)

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 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. In December 2022, the ICC ruled against Ongwen’s appeal of his conviction and sentence.

The ICC presidency pointed out that the enforcement of the sentence of imprisonment in Norway shall be subject to the supervision of the Court and consistent with widely accepted international standards governing the treatment of prisoners.