ICC to deliver verdict on LRA commander Ongwen
By Ruth Anderah
The International Criminal Court in the Hague will today deliver a verdict for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen.
45 year old Ongwen aka the White Ant is charged with 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for atrocities committed in the Northern region.
The case is the first at the ICC to involve an alleged perpetrator and victim of the same war crimes, with Ongwen himself having been abducted by the rebels as a child while on the way to school and trained to do the acts he did.
His defense lawyers have since argued that he cannot be held responsible for atrocities he was trained and convinced to commit and have asked for him to be acquitted.
However, prosecution says he could have left the rebel movement when he became an adult at the age of 18.
He is accused of among others, leading massacres at the Lukodi, Pajule, Odek, and Abok refugee camps, and the conscription of child soldiers.
Joseph Kony, who is the leader of the rebel group remains at large and is a subject of an ICC arrest warrant.
