"Guilty as Charged" - Ogwen convicted of war crimes by ICC

THE HAGUE, Netherlands

The child soldier turned "Lord's Resistance Army" commander had been accused of crimes against humanity during a brutal campaign of terror in northern Uganda.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, convicted former Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen on Thursday of war crimes. 

In reading out detailed descriptions of atrocities committed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) — which had been one of Africa's most brutal rebel groups — an ICC judge said that Ongwen had ordered the killings and abductions of civilians, including children. 

Ongwen was accused of 70 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery and using child soldiers, between 2002 and 2004 in northern Uganda when he led a brigade of the LRA. 

For more than 20 years, its fighters subjected northern Uganda to a reign of terror before withdrawing to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

Ongwen himself was abducted by the rebels as a child while on the way to school and was forced to serve as a child soldier. 

His case is the first at the ICC to involve an alleged perpetrator and victim of the same war crimes.

He pleaded not guilty when the proceedings began in 2016, and has denied the charges. He will be sentenced at a later date, and could face life behind bars.