2014-05-23 14:37:00

A Congolese warlord sentenced to 12 years by the ICC for crimes committed against civilians


The International Criminal Court on Friday sentenced a warlord from the Democratic Republic of Congo to 12 years in prison, after convicting him in March of aiding and abetting crimes committed in the east of the country over a decade ago. Germain Katanga, nicknamed Simba, is only the second person sentenced by the court based in The Hague, Netherlands. The crimes he committed included murder and looting in a notorious 2003 attack on a village in the Ituri province in which some 200 people were shot or hacked to death. Judges at the court said Katanga, who was 24 at the time of the attack, was crucial in arming the ethnic Lendu and Ngiti fighters who carried out the attack on Bogoro village, when the ethnic Hema civilians were killed. Several participants in that conflict have come before the court, including warlord Thomas Lubanga, who was sentenced to 14 years for recruiting child soldiers.

Judges ruled Friday that the seven years Katanga had already spent in the ICC's detention centre before and during his trial should count towards his sentence. He could be eligible for early release next year, when he will have served two thirds of his sentence. He can appeal against his conviction.








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