Child soldiers awarded $10m damages from Congolese warlord

Former Congolese rebel commander Thomas Lubanga (Center), sits in a court room the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, 14 March 2012. (Yonhap)

International judges on Friday awarded $10 million in damages to child soldiers recruited into the ranks of a brutal Congolese militia by former warlord Thomas Lubanga.

The judges at the International Criminal Court set "the sum of reparations for which Mr Lubanga is liable as the total sum of $10 million," presiding judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said. While the court formally acknowledged 425 victims, he added that "hundreds or even thousands of additional victims" suffered at the hands of Lubanga's militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AFP)