Dominic Ongwen, an ex-commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) , a ‘rebel’ group that operated in Uganda in the 2000’s, has been convicted for war crimes and war against humanity, by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

The ruling took place on Thursday. Mr Ongwen was held “fully responsible” for bruitalisng civilians in northern Uganda, and for committing numerous attrocity against the people of Uganda in the early 2000s, following a longstanding armed insurgency dating back to the 1980s.

Presiding Judge Bertrain Schmitt announced the ruling , that it found Mr Ongwen guilty ,” for a total of 61 comprising crimes against humanity and war-related crimes committed in Uganda between July 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005″.

The Court found Ongwen guilty for crimes which include murder, attempted murder, destruction of property, several related sexual crimes, forced pregnancy, abduction of many civilians during attacks on camps protected by Uganda government, crimes of conscriptory children under the age of 15 into Sinia brigade and using them to participate actively in hostilities.

Mr Onweng closed his eyes often as he sat in the court room, with a face mask, heeding to covid-19 protocols. However, his lawyer argued the ruling; that he [Onweng] was a victim of circumstances as a former soldier’s child, and committed the attrocities out of duress.

The Judge rejected claims of the defence counsel, stating that Dominic Ongwen is fully responsible for all these crimes, and acted out of his freewill.

Although, no evidence to support the said claims that he had any form of mental disease or disorder, or that the crimes were committed due to duress or under threat. Mr Ongwen will be sentenced on a later date, ICC revealed.

Ijeoma Njoku reporting, Obinwannem News