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The International Criminal Court has sentenced Germain Katanga, a rebel commander from the Democratic Republic of Congo, to 12 years in jail for arming an ethnic militia group that carried out a “particularly cruel” 2003 village massacre. “The chamber sentences Germain Katanga to 12 years in prison,” presiding Judge Bruno Cotte told the Hague-based court yesterday in its second sentencing since opening in 2003.
The almost seven years that Katanga has already spend in detention will be deducted from the sentence, he said.
Katanga was found guilty of having procured the weapons — including guns and machetes — used in the massacre, but was cleared of direct involvement. He was found not guilty of rape, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba, reporting from The Hague, said many campaigners hoped the verdict and conviction would send a message that there will be consequences for such crimes.
Congolese authorities arrested and surrendered the 36-year-old to the ICC in 2007.
The court’s first conviction was handed down in 2012, to DRC’s Thomas Lubanga for using child soldiers. — Al Jazeera.
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