The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga after finding him guilty of recruiting, training and using child soldiers between 2002 and 2003. The conviction marks the UN-backed court's first verdict in its 10-year history.
Lubanga was accused of enlisting and conscripting children under 15 into the rebel group known as Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). He used them to participate actively in hostilities in gold-rich Ituri district in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between September 2002 and August 2003.
"The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. Thomas Lubanga is guilty of the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities," presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said in his ruling.
The judge noted that the recruitment and usage of child soldiers were in line with a plan agreed by Lubanga and his co-perpetrators to build an army with the intention of establishing and maintaining political and military control over Ituri.
"This resulted in boys and girls under the age of 15 being conscripted and enlisted, and used to participate actively in hostilities. The evidence demonstrated that children endured harsh training regiments and were subjected to hard punishment," the ICC said in a statement.
Lubanga now faces a maximum of life imprisonment when he is sentenced after a hearing due to be held later this year. He, however, reserves the right to appeal against his conviction on all three war crimes charges.
Lubanga was transferred to The Hague in March 2006 after his arrest on a warrant issued by the UN-backed court a year earlier. His trial has since been delayed by several procedural irregularities.
The judges at the ICC had once suspended his case over the prosecution's failure to hand over vital evidence to the defense lawyers, saying that a fair trial was no longer possible. The trial resumed in January 2009 after the ICC lifted its suspension after the prosecution agreed to let the tribunal review confidential material received from the United Nations.
Lubanga's trial was the first one of its kind to be heard by the ICC, which was set up in The Hague in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court. So far, 14 cases have been brought before the ICC, including four that have reached the trial stage.
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