A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday sentenced a warlord to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of “sexual slavery” a decade ago, an aid group said.
Lieutenant colonel Maro Ntumwa, know as “The Moroccan”, was convicted of several crimes committed in DRC’s restive South Kivu province between 2005 and 2007.
He was found guilty “of war crimes including sexual slavery, pillaging and attacks against civilians, and crimes against humanity including rape,” said the NGO Trial International, which supports victims of international crimes.
The group said Ntumwa, who was partly responsible for the feared “Mai Mai” armed group, ran “an especially cruel militia that persecuted hundreds of villagers with utter impunity… During these attacks, men were killed or taken prisoner and women and girls were kept as sex slaves.”
Trial International said the court ordered compensation of between $2000-5000 to be paid to each of his victims.
North and South Kivu provinces are the theatre of a wave of violence among militia groups, which often extort money from civilians or fight each other for control of mineral resources.
Source: AFP
