ICC upholds 25-year war crimes sentence of former Ugandan rebel commander

By Hamza Kyeyune

KAMPALA, Uganda, (AA) - International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals judges on Thursday upheld the conviction of a former commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a notorious Ugandan rebel group.

Dominic Ongwen was convicted two years ago of 61 offenses that included murders, rapes, forced marriages and recruiting child soldiers and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

His lawyers challenged the sentencing and raised 90 grounds for an appeal, alleging legal, procedural and factual errors in his conviction and sentencing.

"The appeals chamber rejects all the defense's grounds of appeal and confirms unanimously the conviction decision," Presiding Judge Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza said during the first part of the hearing and upheld all of Ongwen's convictions.

Prosecutors portrayed Ongwen as leading a reign of terror by the LRA, personally ordering the massacres of more than 130 civilians at the Lukodi, Pajule, Odek and Abok refugee camps between 2002 and 2005.

The LRA was formed in the mid-1980s by Joseph Kony, a fugitive from the ICC, as an anti-government rebel force, but it swiftly degenerated into one of the most merciless armed groups during their insurgency in Uganda.