Congolese warlord, Ntaganda sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for crimes against humanity

A notorious warlord whose activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo earned him the moniker "the Terminator" has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

The International Criminal Court handed down the penalty for Bosco Ntaganda during a hearing Thursday at The Hague, Netherlands.

The sentence is the longest ever meted out by the ICC, and Ntaganda has already moved to file an appeal.

Ntaganda was convicted in July on 18 counts, ranging from murder and use of child soldiers to rape and sexual slavery, related to operations that the Rwandan-born militia leader directed in the Congolese region of Ituri in 2002 and 2003. 

Judges found that he helped plan attacks by the Union of Congolese Patriots and its military wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, or UPC/FPLC, which sought to expel members of the Lendu ethnic group with a brutal campaign of violence.

He is the first defendant the ICC has convicted of sexual slavery and crimes of sexual violence against his own troops.