UGANDA: Court sentences former commander Kwoyelo to 40 years

A Ugandan court on Friday sentenced former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Thomas Kwoyelo to 40 years in prison after a landmark war crimes trial over his role in the group’s two-decade reign of terror.

It was the first time a member of the feared organisation — which waged a two-decade rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni — had been tried for war crimes in a Ugandan court.

The sentence against Kwoyelo, who was convicted in August on 44 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, was announced by Michael Elubu, the lead judge in the case at the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the high court in the northern city of Gulu.