ICC convicts Ugandan rebel commander of war crimes

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court has convicted a former commander in a notorious Ugandan rebel group of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Dominic Ongwen was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army as a 9-year-old boy, transformed into a child soldier and later promoted to a senior leadership rank in the shadowy militia. He faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment after being convicted on Thursday of 61 offenses, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages. Defense lawyers had argued that Ongwen was also a victim of the rebel group. The judgment against him outlined the horrors of the LRA’s attacks on camps for displaced civilians in northern Uganda in the early 2000s.