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Ugandan Rebel Leader Gets 25 Years In Jail at International Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced former Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen to 25 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The former child soldier who became a commander of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army was convicted in February of 61 crimes including rape, sexual enslavement, child abductions, torture and murder, Deutsche Welle reports. Prosecutors had sought a lower sentence than the maximum 30 years to life allowed by the ICC, arguing that Ongwen was initially abducted as a schoolboy by the LRA and should therefore receive a more mild sentence. Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said he was "a perpetrator who wilfully brought tremendous suffering upon his victims, however, also a perpetrator who himself has previously endured extreme suffering at the hands of the group of which he later became a prominent member and leader".

InFocus

E. Lubega/Deutche Welle

Captured LRA Commander Dominic Ongwen (third from left) in 2015.

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