Warlord convicted of recruiting child soldiers for conflict in Congo

It is the International Criminal Court’s first judgment, 10 years after being established.

Lubanga, wearing an ivory-coloured robe and skull cap, sat with his hands clasped in front of him listening to the verdict and showed no emotion as presiding judge Adrian Fulford declared him guilty.

Actress and activist Angelina Jolie watched the hearing from the public gallery and said the verdict was a victory for the former child soldiers. “This is their day – where these children will feel there is no impunity for what happened to them, for what they suffered,” she said.

As Lubanga left court at The Hague in the Netherlands flanked by guards, he nodded and smiled to supporters in the public gallery. Lubanga faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment when sentenced at a later date.

Judges said Lubanga, “personally used children below the age of 15 as his bodyguards.”

While the three-judge panel unanimously convicted Lubanga, it also harshly criticised prosecutors for using intermediaries to deal with witnesses in Congo.

Judge Fulford said three intermediaries “persuaded, encouraged or assisted witnesses to give false evidence.”

However, other witnesses and video of Lubanga speaking to recruits, some of them children, at a training camp provided enough evidence to convict him.

Prosecutors said Lubanga led the Union of Congolese Patriots political group and commanded its armed wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo fighting in a brutal ethnic conflict in the Ituri region of eastern Congo.