Int'l Court Sentences Ugandan to 25 Years for War Crimes

Dominic Ongwen, right, a Ugandan commander in warlord Joseph Kony's feared militia, waits for the start of court procedures as he made his first appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Ongwen arrived in The Hague last week after being taken into custody in Central African Republic. He faces war crimes and crimes against humanity charges for his alleged role in a reign of terror that has spanned more than 25 years in central Africa's Great Lakes region. AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool

THE HAGUE, Netherlands—The International Criminal Court sentenced a Ugandan former child soldier who turned into a brutal rebel commander to 25 years’ imprisonment on May 6, with judges saying that his own abduction as a schoolboy and history as a child soldier prevented him from being sentenced to life.

Dominic Ongwen was convicted in February of a total of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, and using child soldiers as a commander in the shadowy Lord’s Resistance Army. His lawyers have said they will appeal the conviction.