- Title: ICC orders record $56 million compensation for Uganda victims
- Date: 28th February 2024
- Summary: GULU, UGANDA (FEBRUARY 28, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN NORTHERN UGANDA LISTENING TO THE COURT PROCEEDINGS WOMAN LISTENING ON DURING COURT PROCEEDINGS A LIVESTREAM OF THE COURT PROCEEDINGS SHOWN IN NORTHERN UGANDA SEEN ON A TELEVISION SCREEN WOMAN LISTENING ON DURING COURT PROCEEDINGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY (LRA) ABDUCTEE, ST
- Embargoed: 13th March 2024 21:17
- Keywords: Dominic Ongwen International criminal court Lord's resistance army
- Location: GULU, UGANDA AND THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
- City: GULU, UGANDA AND THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
- Country: Uganda
- Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA002418728022024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nearly 50,000 victims of Ugandan militia commander Dominic Ongwen should get a total of over 52 million euros ($56 million) in compensation, International Criminal Court judges ruled on Wednesday (February 28), in a record reparations order.
Judges said Ongwen, a former child-soldier who rose through the ranks to become one of the top commanders of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, did not have the resources to pay the compensation himself. Instead they asked the tribunal's own trust fund for victims to help cover the cost.
The reparations will be in the form of a symbolic individual payment of 750 euros per victim and additional collective reparations like rehabilitation programs and memorial sites. Ongwen was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2021 on 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape, murder and child abduction. He is currently serving his sentence in Norway.
Led by fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, the LRA terrorized Ugandans for nearly 20 years as it fought the government of President Yoweri Museveni from bases in northern Uganda and neighbouring countries. The militia has been largely wiped out, but Kony remains one of the ICC's most wanted fugitives.
(Production: Justine Dralaze, Mukelwa Hlatshwayo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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