Ongwen Convicted of war crimes
By Ivan Ssenabulya
The International Criminal Court has convicted former LRA Senior commander Dominic Ongwen 61 counts of the 70 charges he was battling.
The convicted crimes comprised war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed to civilians in IDP camps of Lukodi, Pajule, Idek and Poka between October 2003 and June 2004 in Northern Uganda.
Ongwen was tried by a panel of three judges presided over by Bertram Schmitt, who found him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the charges.
The panel based the verdict on evidence of over 100 witnesses during the trial which kicked off on 6th December 2016.
Prosecution brought 69 witnesses and the Defense team used 54 witnesses including experts and legal representative of the victims.
Ongwen, is the first member of the Lord’s Resistance Army to appear before ICC and to be convicted.
