THE HAGUE, Netherlands—A Congo militia leader known as The Terminator pleaded innocent Wednesday to 18 charges, including murder, rape and sexual slavery, as his long-awaited trial started at the International Criminal Court.
Bosco Ntaganda, who for years was a symbol of impunity in Africa before turning himself in to the court in 2013 as his powerbase crumbled, looked on impassively as the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, called him a “notorious and powerful” military leader who commanded troops who slaughtered hundreds of civilians in the resource-rich Ituri region of eastern Congo in 2002 and 2003.
