Congo warlord gets 14-year jail over child soldiers
Source: Agencies |
July 11, 2012, Wednesday
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THE International Criminal Court sentenced a Congolese warlord to 14 years in prison yesterday, a watershed moment for the 10-year-old tribunal and a potential landmark in the struggle to protect children during wartime.
Judges found Thomas Lubanga guilty in March of recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia - sending them to kill and be killed during fighting in Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003.
Yesterday's announcement in The Hague, the Netherlands, was the first time the tribunal had sentenced a convicted war criminal.
"The vulnerability of children means they need to be afforded particular protection," Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said at the sentencing hearing.
Human rights activists hailed the decision.
"This sentence sends out a stark warning across the world to those engaged in the use of child soldiers that their criminal actions will land them in prison," said Armel Luhiriri of the Coalition for the ICC, a non-government group that supports the court and its efforts to end impunity for the world's worst crimes.
Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence, but said they would cut it to 20 years if Lubanga offered a "genuine apology" to the victims of his crimes. Lubanga did not offer an apology. Wearing a gray suit and tie, he showed no emotion as Fulford read out the decision. He can appeal his conviction and sentence.
Fulford said that the time Lubanga has served in pretrial detention since March 2006 would be deducted from the sentence.
It was not immediately clear where Lubanga would serve his sentence. The court has no prison cells for holding convicted war criminals, but has deals with seven countries to jail them - Denmark, Serbia, Mali, Austria, Finland, Britain and Belgium.
Fulford gave Lubanga three sentences of 13, 12 and 14 years each, respectively for conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers, but the sentences are to be served concurrently.
Judges found Thomas Lubanga guilty in March of recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia - sending them to kill and be killed during fighting in Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003.
Yesterday's announcement in The Hague, the Netherlands, was the first time the tribunal had sentenced a convicted war criminal.
"The vulnerability of children means they need to be afforded particular protection," Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said at the sentencing hearing.
Human rights activists hailed the decision.
"This sentence sends out a stark warning across the world to those engaged in the use of child soldiers that their criminal actions will land them in prison," said Armel Luhiriri of the Coalition for the ICC, a non-government group that supports the court and its efforts to end impunity for the world's worst crimes.
Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence, but said they would cut it to 20 years if Lubanga offered a "genuine apology" to the victims of his crimes. Lubanga did not offer an apology. Wearing a gray suit and tie, he showed no emotion as Fulford read out the decision. He can appeal his conviction and sentence.
Fulford said that the time Lubanga has served in pretrial detention since March 2006 would be deducted from the sentence.
It was not immediately clear where Lubanga would serve his sentence. The court has no prison cells for holding convicted war criminals, but has deals with seven countries to jail them - Denmark, Serbia, Mali, Austria, Finland, Britain and Belgium.
Fulford gave Lubanga three sentences of 13, 12 and 14 years each, respectively for conscripting, enlisting and using child soldiers, but the sentences are to be served concurrently.
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