A senior commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army faces 70 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as a trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) began on Friday.
Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier, facing charges for activities between 2002 and 2005, stands accused of murdering civilians, forcibly entrapping sex slaves, recruiting child soldiers and even acts of cannibalism.
Prosecutor Benjamin Gumpert told the court that "large numbers lost their lives in indiscriminate acts of murder."
"Some were tortured in cruel ways. Hundreds were abducted to carry away the loot. And, if they could not walk fast enough, they were beaten."
“The tragedy of this case is the fact that Dominic Ongwen was a perpetrator but also a victim,” Mr Gumpert added. “But this is no reason to expect that crimes can be committed with impunity.”
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