\n Congolese ex-warlord Bosco Ntaganda plied child soldiers in his rebel army with drugs and alcohol before sending them to murder his enemies, the International Criminal Court heard on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n A lawyer representing 283 victims in the case said Ntaganda, now aged about 44, was \"directly involved in the recruitment of thousands of children\" in his forces, which conducted a reign of terror in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003.\n<\/p>\n
\n Afterwards Ntaganda \"used them (child soldiers) to participate, under the spell of alcohol and drugs... to kill, rape and pillage the enemy\", said the lawyer, Sarah Pellet.\n<\/p>\n
\n Judges at the Hague-based ICC are listening to a second day of closing statements in the case against the man nicknamed \"The Terminator\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors say Ntaganda's army ravaged the mineral-rich Ituri region more than 15 years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ntaganda faces 13 counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n The alleged crimes include murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting children under the age of 15 to serve in his Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC).\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Put the past behind them' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Pellet said Wednesday the victims \"were expecting justice\" even after 15 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It is time for the victims to put the past behind them and move forward and built their future. This will be by way of a guilty verdict,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Tuesday, prosecutors said Ntaganda was central to planning operations for the Union of Congolese Patriots and its military wing, the FPLC.\n<\/p>\n
\n Known as a charismatic commander with a penchant for cowboy hats and fine dining, prosecutors said Ntaganda used child soldiers younger than 15 years, coerced women soldiers into sexual slavery and attacked civilians on ethnic grounds.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors, who showed shocking images of the disembowelled bodies of victims, who also had their throats slit, also asked for a guilty verdict.\n<\/p>\n
\n At least 800 people were killed by the FPLC as it battled rival militias for control of the volatile area, prosecutors said.\n<\/p>\n
\n But during his trial the soft-spoken Ntaganda during balked at the \"Terminator\" nickname and told judges he was a \"soldier, not a criminal\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The first-ever suspect to voluntarily surrender to the ICC, Ntaganda walked into the US embassy in Kigali in 2013 and asked to be sent to the court.\n<\/p>\n
\n More than 60,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in Ituri in 1999, according to rights groups.\n<\/p>\n
\n This week's hearings will run until Thursday with Ntaganda expected to make a statement towards the end of the hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Congolese ex-warlord Bosco Ntaganda plied child soldiers in his rebel army with drugs and alcohol before sending them to murder his enemies, the International Criminal Court heard on Wednesday. A lawyer representing 283 victims in the case said Ntaganda, now aged about 44, was \"directly involved in the recruitment of thousands of children\" in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-38606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n