The convicted Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda must pay his victims more than 31 million dollars (more than 27.5 million euros) in compensation. The Second Criminal Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) determined this on Friday, after the original amount of $ 30 million imposed in 2021 was referred back on appeal for review due to lack of substantiation. That reports the ICC in a press release.
Ntaganda was sentenced to thirty years in prison in 2021 in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The rebel leader, who was commander of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UCP) in Congo’s Ituri province from 2002 to 2005, was found guilty of murder, rape, enslaving underage girls and using boys as child soldiers. His conviction for sexual slavery was the first in ICC history.
That judgment was upheld on appeal, but according to the appeals chamber, the amount of compensation imposed was unclear as to how it had been calculated and which war victims were eligible for it. The revision was based on an estimated number of 3,000 victims of crimes against child soldiers. The Criminal Chamber estimated the number of victims of attacks at more than 7,500 people.
Financial situation
The Criminal Chamber reiterated a request to continue to investigate whether Ntaganda possesses undiscovered assets and to monitor his financial situation on an ongoing basis, the press release said. According to the Reuters news agency, the 2021 compensation was the highest ever imposed by the ICC.
The hearing was attended remotely by Ntaganda, nicknamed The Terminator. His trial began in 2015, two years after he turned himself in at the US embassy in Rwanda. The conflict killed hundreds of civilians and displaced many thousands of people.