Congolese ex-warlord Bosco Ntaganda will face judgement before the International Criminal Court next month for allegedly overseeing massacres and using children in his rebel army, the tribunal said Monday.
Ntaganda, nicknamed "Terminator", is accused of masterminding the slaughter of civilians by his soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile northeastern Ituri region in 2002 and 2003.
The Hague-based ICC said in a statement that it "will deliver its judgement in the case of Bosco Ntaganda on July 8 at 10.00 am (0800 GMT)".
"At the hearing the Trial Chamber will announce whether it finds the accused innocent or guilty beyond reasonable doubt," it added.
Ntaganda, 45, is facing 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the brutal conflict that wracked the mineral-rich Ituri region.
More than 60,000 people have been killed since the violence erupted in the region in 1999 according to rights groups, as militias battled each other for control of scarce mineral resources.
Prosecutors said Ntaganda was central to the planning and operations for the Union of Congolese Patriots rebels and its military wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).
During his three-year trial, prosecutors said the FPLC killed at least 800 people as it battled rival militias in Ituri.
Prosecutors also showed horrific images of victims who were disemboweled and had their throats slit.
The soft-spoken Ntaganda however told judges he was a "soldier, not a criminal", adding that the "Terminator" moniker did not apply to him.
Known for his pencil moustache and a penchant for fine dining, Ntaganda is also an ex-general in the Congolese army.
Rwandan-born Ntaganda then became a founding member of the M23 rebel group, which was eventually defeated by Congolese government forces in 2013.
The first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC, he walked into the US embassy in Kigali and asked to be sent to the court, based in the Netherlands.
The ICC was set up in 2002 as an independent international body to prosecute those accused of the world's worst crimes.
But it has suffered several setbacks over recent years with some of its most high-profile suspects walking free, while it has also been criticised for so far mainly trying African suspects.
Ntaganda's former FPLC commander Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2012 -- the second conviction by the court since being set up 17 years ago.