The Ugandan court found the LRA rebel leader guilty

A court in Uganda yesterday found the former commander of the Christian Rebel group in northern Uganda (LRA) guilty. Thomas Kwoyelo has been found guilty for his involvement in several crimes against humanity in the first war crimes case to be heard in the East African country.

Thomas Kwoyelo, who was accused of crimes committed during the bloody two-decade rebellion of the LRA group in northern Uganda, was waiting for several years in prison to be tried in the important case that was facing him.

Judge Michael Elubu of the International Crime Division at the High Court in the city of Gulu in northern Uganda said that the former commander of the LRA group was found guilty of 44 offenses and sentenced and that he was found not guilty of three counts of murder and other offenses 31 that were facing him have been dismissed.  

Thomas Kwoyelo who was kidnapped by the LRA Christian rebel group at the age of 12 has denied all the allegations against him. He was arrested in March 2009 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during an operation by local security forces against the LRA rebels who took over from Uganda two years ago.