Congolese warlord Lubanga guilty of use of child soldiers
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 14, 2012
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Thomas Lubanga Dyilo © ICC-CPI/ Evert-Jan Daniel/ANP |
Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was found guilty of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in a public hearing on Wednesday.
Lubanga is accused of conscripting, enlisting, and using children under the age of 15 years for combat purposes while he served as president of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) rebel group in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The ICC judges also found that Lubanga personally used children as his bodyguards.
The length of jail term that Lubanga will serve will be announced later in a separate hearing. The defense is entitled to appeal the conviction within 30 days of receiving the French translation of the judgment.
Lubanga became the first person ever arrested under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court when the Congolese authorities arrested him and transferred him into ICC custody in March 2006. His trial began in January 2009.
It is the first verdict delivered by an ICC Trial Chamber since it was founded in 2002. At present, 14 other cases are before the Court, three of which are at the stage of trial. Five individuals are in the ICC custody and 11 suspects remain at large.
The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
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