Residents of Gulu, a city in northern Uganda and home town of Dominic Ongwen, have greeted the news of the former child soldier’s sentencing by the International Criminal Court ICC with mixed reactions.
Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier who became a commander of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), was sentenced to 25 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC.
The LRA was founded three decades ago by former Catholic altar boy and self-styled prophet Kony, who launched a bloody rebellion in northern Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni.
Its brutal campaign to set up a state based on the Bible’s Ten Commandments left more than 100,000 people dead and 60,000 children abducted, eventually spreading to Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic.
Prosecutors had asked for a 20-year prison term, saying Ongwen’s own history as a schoolboy abducted by the LRA justified a lower sentence than the maximum 30 years to life allowed by the ICC.
The defence had sought a 10-year prison term for Ongwen for attacks by his soldiers on refugee camps in northern Uganda.
Victims of his crimes had asked the court to impose the full life sentence.
Schmitt said the court was faced with a “unique situation” with the case, saying Ongwen was both a criminal and a victim.
