ICC delivers Lubanga verdict
The International Criminal Court will hand Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga its first-ever sentence on Tuesday, after his conviction for using child soldiers in a brutal conflict in the central African country.
Lubanga, 51, was convicted in March of war crimes, specifically for using child soldiers in his rebel army in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-03, in the ICC's first verdict since it started work a decade ago.
The former militia commander will face the bench at a public hearing set down for 9.30 am (0730 GMT) for his part in a war which humanitarian NGOs say has left some 60,000 people dead since 1999.
Lubanga was found guilty of abducting children as young as 11 and forcing them to fight and commit atrocities in the DRC's northeastern gold-rich Ituri region. During the trial prosecutors told how young girls served as sex-slaves, while boys were trained to fight.
