The Hague international war crimes court has found Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of using child soldiers during a five-year conflict in the African country.
The ruling is the court’s first after a decade of work limited largely to Africa while major cases in the Middle East and Asia remain beyond its reach.
Governments and rights groups have leveled war crime accusations Syrian president Bashar al-Assad over his military crackdown. But the International Criminal Court (ICC) is unable to act because Syria is not a signatory and the United Nations
Lubanga (51) was found guilty of recruiting and deploying child soldiers during a five-year conflict until 2003. An estimated 60,000 people were killed.
"The chamber concludes that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is guilty of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years," ICC presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said.
Thomas Lubanga "was essential to a common plan to conscript and enlist girls and boys below the age of 15," Judge Fulford said.
Lubanga was detained six years ago and faced three counts of war crimes. He could face up to life imprisonment, although a sentence will not be passed immediately. An appeal can be filed within 30 days.
Lubanga, who was wearing a white traditional African robe and cap, sat quietly in the courtroom while the ruling was read out. He had denied all the charges.
A conviction could help lend momentum to other prominent cases, such as that against former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo.
Gbagbo is charged with individual responsibility on counts of crimes against humanity - murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence and persecution.
Reuters