LRA’s Ogwen to be sentenced today

The International Criminal Court (ICC) sitting at the Hague is today expected to pass a sentence against the  former LRA commandant Dominic Ongwen.

Ongwen was convicted of several counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes , murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery and use of child soldiers between 2002 and 2004.

The former rebel commander who went on trial in December 2016, pleaded not guilty to the charges at the start of proceedings and continues to deny all accusations.

He was said to have committed the crimes while he was a commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda and  several prosecution witnesses testified  including victims of the atrocities allegedly committed by Ongwen.

Among them were 7 women forced by Ongwen to marry him, ten UPDF soldiers, former LRA fighters who were under Ongwen’s brigade ,  child soldiers who were abducted and enlisted into rebel activities and expert witnesses who testified about Ongwen’s mental status .

In this trial some of the witnesses gave their evidence by way of recorded statements while others  physically travelled to testify at the Hague.

The sentence is expected to be delivered at midday.