Dominic Ongwen To Serve A 25-Year Sentence For War Crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday sentenced former Ugandan ex-Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen to 25 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Court had found the former child soldier guilty of 61 out of 70 counts, including murders, rapes, and sexual enslavement.

However, 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 life imprisonment) and/or a fine.

Dominic Ongwen is the fifth suspect to be convicted for atrocities at the ICC, a court of last resort established in 2002.

The court agreed that Ongwen’s kidnapping and circumstances are compelling but felt they could not be disregarded.

“The chamber is confronted in the present case with a unique situation. It is confronted with a perpetrator who willfully brought tremendous suffering upon his victims,” Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said.

“However, it is also confronted with a perpetrator who himself had previously endured extreme suffering himself at the hands of the group of which he later became a prominent member and leader.”