Former Congolese warlord, Bosco Ntaganda, on Monday faces judgement at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegedly overseeing widespread attacks on civilians and recruiting child soldiers.
Ntaganda, who was nicknamed the “Terminator,” has been charged with 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity.
The allegations include murder, rape, recruiting children as soldiers and subjecting them to sexual abuse, looting and displacement of civilians.
Ntaganda has pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him at the trial, which opened in September 2015 in The Hague, Netherlands.
The prosecution says the crimes occurred when Ntaganda headed the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC) – the military wing of the Union of Congolese Patriots – in north-eastern Ituri province between 2002 and 2003.
Ntaganda ordered attacks on another ethnic group in order to gain control of the province’s gold, diamond and oil resources, prosecutor Fatou Bensouda argued.
In one incident, women had their stomachs cut open and children had their throats slit, the court heard.
Ntaganda was also involved in the M23 rebel movement, which signed a peace deal with the government in 2013.
He surrendered to the U.S. embassy in the Rwandan capital Kigali in 2013 after having eluded capture for seven years.
Ntaganda’s former commander Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in 2012 for using child soldiers, becoming the first person to be convicted by the ICC.
Dozens of armed groups remain active in eastern Congo, which has been ravaged by violence since the 1996-2003 Congo wars. (dpa/NAN)