Victims of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda have expressed disappointment over the sentence handed down by judges to a former commander.
Thomas Kwoyelo was sentenced to 40 years in prison for war crimes including murder, rape, enslavement, pillage, torture and kidnapping.
However, he will only spend another 25 years behind bars, having already been in detention for 15 years.
Grace Apio, a victim, said the sentence seemed very lenient for those who were victims of terrible atrocities committed by the LRA rebels.
“We feel very bad, our properties that were destroyed, the children we fathered in captivity. We are really suffering,” she said.
Apio added that the judgment would send a wrong message to people who want to start war in Uganda.
“You can commit these atrocities and end up with a light sentence, and then come back to society and resume your life,” she added.
Kwoyelo avoided the death penalty because he was abducted by the rebel group as a child and expressed remorse.
The LRA was founded in the late 1980s with the aim of overthrowing the government and creating a state based on its leader, Joseph Kony,’s interpretation of the Ten Commandments.
The rebels fought the government from their bases in the north of the country for nearly two decades.
They were infamous for their brutality, which included amputating victims’ limbs and lips, as well as kidnapping children to use as fighters and sex slaves.
Kwoyelo has denied the charges against him.
He told the court that only Kony could answer for the LRA’s crimes, and stressed that any member of the rebel group could be killed for committing disobeyed the warlord.
His lawyer, Evans Ochieng, said that after consulting with his client, they decided to appeal the decision because of the conviction and sentence.
“We are not going to say here on camera that we think the sentences are unlawful, but we will challenge them in the appeals court,” he said.
Human Rights Watch calls the historic trial a “rare opportunity for justice” for victims of the two-decade war between Ugandan troops and the LRA.
When military pressure forced the LRA out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa.
The group has weakened in recent years, and reports of LRA attacks are rare. Kony remains at large and was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005.