Congolese warlord Lubanga gets 14 years for using child soldiers; will serve 8

(CNN) -- The International Criminal Court handed its first-ever sentence Tuesday, sending Thomas Lubanga -- the Congolese warlord of using child soldiers and turning them killers -- to prison 14 years.

But six years, from March 2006 Tuesday, that Lubanga had been custody will be deducted from the , Judge Adrian Fulford at the court Hague, Netherlands, said.

Fulford said "vulnerability of children mean they need to be afforded particular protection that does not apply the general population."

Lubanga's cooperation the court was one of the mitigating factors that the court considered sentencing, he said.

In March, the court convicted Lubanga conscripting and enlisting children under 15 and using them to participate "hostilities" during a civil in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Prosecutors said Lubanga a rebel force that recruited soldiers. The violence occurred 2002 and 2003 in the mineral-rich eastern of the nation.

Lubanga forced some of the child soldiers to serve militia roles, including as his bodyguards, court said.

Former child soldiers testified Lubanga recruited them kill, rape and rob.

Lubanga's case marked ICC's first trial and first verdict since the court established in 2002 to address offenses of international concern, as genocide and war .

recent months, the court has come under criticism that it disburses justice selectively.

Critics have said the court targets Africa and opportunities to investigate abuses various nations, including Afghanistan and Iraq.

The court currently has investigations in Central African Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Libya.


Adapted from: CNN, July 10, 2012.