The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday upheld the conviction of former Congolese militia leader Bosco Ntaganda for war crimes and crimes against humanity and upheld his 30-year prison sentence.
“After dismissing Mr Ntaganda’s grounds of appeal in its entirety, the Board of Appeal hereby confirms the judgment of the Chamber,” said Judge Howard Morrison.
Ntaganda’s lawyers had tried to overturn his conviction, saying the original trial was full of legal errors.
But the appeals judges rejected all of the nearly 30 grounds of appeal against his conviction and verdict, the longest court has ruled.
Ntaganda was convicted in 2019 of murder, rape, child molestation and other atrocities committed when he was the military chief of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-2003.
During the conflict, Ntaganda’s UPC, dominated by the Hema clan, targeted rival Lendu people for expulsion from the mineral-rich Ituri region.
Hundreds of civilians were killed and many thousands were forced to flee in the sprawling Central African country of about 90 million, many of whom live in extreme poverty.
The ICC is an international tribunal set up in 2002 to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity when Member States are unable or unwilling to do so. In March, ICC judges ordered $ 30 million in compensation for Ntaganda’s victims.
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