BY S KWAGALA
The International Criminal Court has transferred Dominic Ongwen, a former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army to a prison facility in the Kingdom of Norway to serve his 25-year sentence.
Ongwen has been at the ICC based in the Hague in the Netherlands since he was transferred there from Uganda in 2015.
On February 4,2021 , Ongwen was charged with 61 offences and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.
Unlike Ugandan prisons however , under this system Ongwen has liberty to choose which prison to serve his sentence .
On July 5, 2023 ,the former LRA commander of the senior brigade wrote to the State of Norway as his preference for imprisonment attributing to his medical state .
This was in spite of the many other states that had expressed willingness to take up the sentences fellow into their prisons .
He assented to have his medical documents forwarded to the kingdom as process for him to acquire a transfer there.
Norway has over 58 prisons followed by a reputation of the most humane imprisonment facilities and system . Ongwen will be watched over the international community of the red cross and assigned a personal medical doctor .
He is the fifth person in history to be transferred by ICC to a state that has indicated its willingness to accept sentenced persons.