KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo said it sentenced a rebel leader to 20 years in prison for ordering mass rapes.
Almost 50 women reported to a court in the eastern city of Baraka to testify against Lt. Col. Kibibi Mutware. He was found guilty Monday of ordering troops to beat and rape victims as a weapon of war on New Year's Day, the BBC reports.
Military judges handed down lighter sentences to five of his deputies, the report adds.
The U.N. Population Fund estimated that at least 8,000 women were raped in the region during conflicts in 2009.
A report by U.N. human rights officials and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the DRC found that at least 35 women were raped and 32 people were injured by Congolese troops in early January.
French authorities acting on an arrest warrant issued in September by the International Criminal Court transferred alleged Rwandan rebel leader Callixte Mbarushimana to the ICC detention center in The Hague.
He is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes for atrocities committed in 2009 in the DRC.
Rebel group, as well as members of the Congolese military, was highlighted in a recent U.N. report on mass rapes in the region last summer.
