Thomas Lubanga Dyilo Thomas Lubanga Dyilo ( born 29 December 1960 ) is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) . He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots ( UPC ) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict ( 1999 – 2007 ) . Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations , including ethnic massacres , murder , torture , rape , mutilation , and forcibly conscripting child soldiers . On 17 March 2006 , Lubanga became the first person arrested under a warrant issued by the ICC . His trial , for the war crime of " conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities " , began on 26 January 2009 , and he was found guilty on 14 March 2012 . He faced a maximum sentence of 30 years . On 10 July 2012 , Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) sentenced Lubanga to a total period of 14 years of imprisonment , also ordering that the time from Lubanga ' s surrender to the ICC in 2006 until the sentencing day should be deducted from the 14 year term , which means he will spend 8 more years in jail . Early life and family . Lubanga was born on 29 December 1960 in Djiba in the Ituri Province of the Republic of the Congo ( Léopoldville ) . He is of the Hema - Gegere ethnic group . He studied at the University of Kisangani and has a degree in psychology . He is married and has seven children . Ituri conflict . During the Second Congo War , Lubanga was a military commander and " minister of defence " in the pro - Uganda Congolese Rally for Democracy - Liberation Movement ( RCD - ML ) . In July 2001 , he founded another rebel group , the Union of Congolese Patriots ( UPC ) . In early 2002 , Lubanga was sidelined from the military control of the RCD - ML and he split from the group . In September 2002 , he became President of the UPC and founded its military wing , the Patriotic Force for the Liberation of the Congo ( FPLC ) . Under Lubanga ' s leadership , the largely Hema UPC became one of the main actors in the Ituri conflict between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups . It seized control of Bunia , capital of the gold - rich Ituri region , in 2002 , and demanded that the Congolese government recognise Ituri as an autonomous province . Lubanga was arrested on 13 June 2002 while on a mission to Kinshasa but he was released ten weeks later in exchange for a kidnapped government minister . Human Rights Watch have accused the UPC , under Lubanga ' s command , of " ethnic massacres , murder , torture , rape and mutilation , as well as the recruitment of child soldiers " . Between November 2002 and June 2003 , the UPC allegedly killed 800 civilians on the basis of their ethnicity in the gold mining region of Mongbwalu . Between 18 February and 3 March 2003 , the UPC are reported to have destroyed 26 villages in one area , killing at least 350 people and forcing 60 , 000 to flee their homes . Human rights organisations claim that at one point Lubanga had 3 , 000 child soldiers between the ages of 8 and 15 . He reportedly ordered every family in the area under his control to help the war effort by donating something : money , a cow , or a child to join his militia . The UPC was forced out of Bunia by the Ugandan army in March 2003 . Lubanga later moved to Kinshasa and registered the UPC as a political party , but was arrested on 19 March 2005 in connection with the killing of nine Bangladeshi United Nations peacekeepers in Ituri on 25 February 2005 . He was initially detained in one of Kinshasa ' s most luxurious hotels but after a few months he was transferred to Kinshasa ' s central jail . Trial . In March 2004 , the Congolese government authorised the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) to investigate and prosecute " crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court allegedly committed anywhere in the territory of the DRC since the entry into force of the Rome Statute , on 1 July 2002 . " On 10 February 2006 , a Pre - Trial Chamber of the ICC found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Lubanga bore individual criminal responsibility for the war crime of " conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities " , and issued a sealed warrant for his arrest . On 17 March 2006 , Lubanga became the first person ever arrested under an ICC arrest warrant , when the Congolese authorities arrested him and transferred him into ICC custody . He was flown to the Hague , where he has been held in the ICC detention centre since 17 March 2006 . Before embarking the plane , Lubanga wept openly . As of January 2009 , he is one of four people being detained by the ICC , including two rebels who fought against Lubanga in the Ituri conflict : Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui . His trial opened on 26 January 2009 . On 14 March 2012 Lubanga was found guilty of abducting boys and girls under the age of 15 and forcing them to fight in a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002 and 2003 . He faced a maximum sentence of 30 years when sentenced in July 2012 . Sentence . On 10 July 2012 , Lubanga was sentenced for 14 years by the ICC The sentencing was a landmark for the first permanent international criminal court , which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary . Presiding judge Adrian Fulford said the time Lubanga had spent in the court ' s detention centre in The Hague would be taken into account , meaning his sentence has only 8 more years to run . Controversies . Lubanga ' s trial , the ICC ' s first , led to several controversies :