International court upholds Ugandan rebel's convictions

Dominic Ongwen sits in the court room to listen to the judgment of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court on the Defence's appeals against his conviction and sentence in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. [AP Photo]

International Criminal Court appeals judges Thursday rejected the appeal by a former commander in the brutal Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army of his conviction on dozens of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity and upheld his 25-year sentence.

In a landmark judgment nearly two years ago, Dominic Ongwen was convicted of 61 offences that included murders, rapes, forced marriages and recruiting child soldiers in 2002-2005.