International court upholds Ugandan rebel’s convictions

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court appeals judges have rejected the appeal by a former commander in the brutal Ugandan rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army of his conviction on dozens of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Dominic Ongwen was convicted in a landmark judgment nearly two years ago of 61 offenses, including murders, rapes, forced marriages and recruiting child soldiers in 2002-2005. He was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. His lawyers raised 90 grounds for an appeal, alleging legal, procedural and factual errors in the conviction and sentence. During the first part of a hearing on Thursday, the appeals judges upheld all of Ongwen’s convictions. They are ruling later on his appeal of his sentence.