A court in Uganda on Friday sentenced a former commander in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group to 40 years in prison.

Thomas Kwoyelo was found guilty on 44 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, enslavement, torture and kidnapping in August.

Kwoyelo played 'prominent role' in offences

The sentence against Kwoyelo, was announced by Michael Elubu, the presiding judge in the case at the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the high court in the northern city of Gulu.

"The convict played a prominent role in the planning, strategy and actual execution of the offenses of extreme gravity," Justice Duncan Gasagwa, one of the four judges, said. "The victims have been left with lasting physical and mental pain and suffering."

Insurgents in the rebel group were known for carrying out horrific acts of cruelty, including rapes, abductions and hacking off victims' limbs and lips.

Gasagwa said that Kwoyelo avoided the death penalty because he was recruited by the LRA at a young age and was not one of the top-ranking commanders. He has expressed remorse and a willingness to reconcile with the victims. 

Kwoyelo has the right to appeal the sentence and conviction within a 14-day period.

What is known about Kwoyelo

Kwoyelo, who is 49 years old, is the first senior member of the Lord's Resistance Army to be tried, convicted and sentenced. The group's founder, Joseph Kony, remains at large. 

During his trial, Kwoyelo's lawyers said that he was abducted at the age of 12 while walking to school in 1987, during the early years of the LRA's insurgency in Uganda.

He was arrested in March 2009 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a crackdown against LRA rebels by regional forces and spent the next 14 years in detention as attempts to try him dragged on. In April 2023, the prosecution wrapped up its argument against Kwoyelo.

The LRA was founded by self-styled prophet Kony in the 1980s with the aim of establishing a regime based on the Ten Commandments.

During the course of its rebellion an estimated 100,000 people were killed and 60,000 children abducted in a reign of terror spreading from Uganda to Sudan, the DRC and the Central African Republic.

kb/wd (Reuters, AFP)