The International Criminal Court (ICC) is set on Thursday to sentence Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda after he was convicted earlier this year of war crimes and sexual slavery.
Ntaganda, dubbed the “Terminator”, faces life in prison for a litany of crimes, including directing massacres of civilians in Democratic Republic of Congos (DRC) volatile, mineral-rich Ituri region in 2002 and 2003.
He became the first person to be found guilty of sexual slavery when he was convicted by The Hague-based ICC in July. In total he was convicted on 13 counts of war crimes and five of crimes against humanity.
The Rwandan-born 46-year-old has appealed against his conviction.
“Judges may impose an imprisonment sentence of maximum 30 years or life imprisonment when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime,” the ICC said in a statement announcing his sentencing.
The ICC judges heard separately from victims and witnesses in September to help them decide on the sentence.
The first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC, Ntaganda walked into the United Statess embassy in the Rwandan capital Kigali in 2013 and asked to be sent to the court in the Netherlands.
During his trial Ntaganda was portrayed as the ruthless leader of ethnic Tutsi revolts amid the wars that convulsed the DRC after the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in neighbouring Rwanda.
Judges found that Ntaganda was a “key leader” in terms of planning and operations for the Union of Congolese Patriots rebel group and its military wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).
Destroyed our lives
Rebecca Unyumbe, who survived an attack in the village of Kiwanja in eastern DRC, told Al Jazeera that her one-year-old son and husband were killed by fighters led by Ntaganda.
“What is happening with Ntaganda should be a deterrent for others who want to come and terrorise us in villages. Those people destroyed our lives,” she said.
The ICC said fighters loyal to Ntaganda carried out atrocities such as a massacre in a banana field behind the village of Kobu in northeastern DRC, in which at least 49 people including children and babies were disembowelled or had their heads smashed in.
Ntaganda was also responsible for the rape and sexual slavery of underage girls, and of recruiting troops under the age of 15.
More than 60,000 people have been killed since the violence erupted in Ituri region in 1999 according to rights groups, as militias battle each other for control of scarce mineral resources.
Ntaganda – known for his pencil moustache and a penchant for fine dining – told judges during his trial that he was “soldier not a criminal” and that the “Terminator” nickname did not apply to him.
After the Ituri conflict, Ntaganda was integrated into the Congolese army and was a general from 2007 to 2012, but then became a founding member of the M23 rebel group in a new uprising against the government.
Prosecutors said his decision to hand himself in to the ICC that year was based on self-preservation as he was in danger because of a feud in the group.
Ntaganda is one of five Congolese warlords to have been brought before the ICC, which was set up in 2002 as an independent international body to prosecute those accused of the worlds worst crimes.
Ntagandas former FPLC commander Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2012.
Placide Nzilamba, a Congolese human rights activist, said that the DRC needs proper local courts, investigators and a justice system.
“The ICC is too far and disconnected from victims and villages,” he told Al Jazeera.
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