A former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels was sentenced by a court in Uganda on Friday to 40 years in prison for brutal crimes committed by the group during its insurgency that started in the 1980s.

A former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group has been convicted of dozens of crimes against humanity in a key moment of justice for many in Uganda who suffered decades of its brutal insurgency.

Israeli and Hamas top leaders have joined a list of people accused of humanity's most heinous crimes by the world's top war crimes court.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor has launched an investigation that could target senior officials believed responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide amid a rising civilian death toll and widespread destruction of property during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A lawyer for a Ugandan rebel commander serving a 25-year sentence for dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity has told appeals judges that his client was found guilty by an International Criminal Court panel that cherry-picked evidence to ensure he was convicted.

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)THE HAGUE – The International Criminal Court on Thursday convicted a one-time child soldier who morphed into a brutal commander in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages. As an adult, he was personally responsible for encouraging and committing against others the very crimes that he himself suffered as a child. When military pressure forced the LRA out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa. AdKony became internationally notorious in 2012 when the U.S.-based advocacy group Invisible Children made a viral video highlighting the LRA’s crimes. Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, chairman of the northern Ugandan district of Gulu, told The Associated Press there were “mixed reactions” among local people.