The International Criminal Court passed its highest ever sentence, sending a Congolese warlord known as “The Terminator” to prison for 30 years for crimes including murder, rape and sexual slavery.

Bosco Ntaganda was found guilty in July of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role as a military commander in atrocities during a bloody ethnic conflict in a mineral-rich region of Congo between 2002 and 2003.

Ntaganda showed no emotion as presiding judge Robert Fremr passed sentences ranging from eight years to 30 years for individual crimes and an overarching sentence of 30 years.

The court’s maximum sentence is 30 years, although judges also have the discretion to impose a life sentence.

Lawyers representing victims in the case had called for a life term.

Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Show all 10 1 /10 Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Mave Grace and her sister Rachele-Ngabausi fled their village with their father to an internally displaced camp in Bunia Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war According to witnesses, militiamen killed her pregnant mother, her three brothers and injured her two-year-old sister Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Refugees in the camp must huddle together for warmth under makeshift tents during regular rainy season downpowers Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Rachele-Ngabausi bears a scar that runs from the bottom of her left cheek, past the inside of her left eye and up her forehead Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war During the attack, Mave Grace saw men with machetes cutting open their pregnant mother’s belly and killing the unborn child Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war When Grace woke she was surrounded by dead bodies. Her left hand was cut off just above the wrist, and it is still healing Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war The girls’ father, Nyine Richard, says he does ‘not know how to live anymore’ and has ‘lost all hope’ Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Their camp is a sea of makeshift blue and white tarpaulin tents. Many spend their days praying together for a way out Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war Not even two-year-old Rachele-Ngabausi was spared the violence when attackers came into her village at night wielding machetes Reuters Inside the Congo camp haunted by an unknown war The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR expects 200,000 refugees to reach Uganda from the Ituri region this year Reuters

Mr Fremr said despite the gravity of the crimes and Ntaganda’s culpability, his convictions “do not warrant a sentence of life imprisonment”.

Ida Sawyer, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, welcomed the ruling.

“Bosco Ntaganda’s 30-year sentence sends a strong message that even people considered untouchable may one day be held to account,” Ms Sawyer said.

Jolino Makelele, a spokesman for the government in Democratic Republic of Congo, said: “We think that justice was done for the victims.”

Ntaganda, who has insisted he is innocent, became a symbol of widespread impunity in Africa in the seven-odd years between first being indicted by the global court and finally turning himself in in 2013 as his power base fell apart.

Physicians for Human Rights said the sentencing set an important precedent.

But Karen Naimer, who directs the group’s programme on sexual violence in conflict zones, added that “international and local prosecution efforts must be dramatically strengthened if we are to curb the rampant impunity for mass atrocities we see in the DRC and elsewhere around the world”.

Dozens ‘hacked to death’ in DR Congo

Judges at Ntaganda’s trial said he was guilty as a direct perpetrator of a murder and as an indirect co-perpetrator of a string of crimes including murders, rapes of men and women, a massacre in a banana field and of enlisting and using child soldiers.

Child soldiers also were raped by Ntaganda’s troops and forced into sexual slavery, leaving them with lasting physical and psychological scars.

Ntaganda himself used child soldiers as bodyguards.

“Some individuals who survived or witnessed the murders and attempted murders that Mr. Ntaganda was convicted of still bear permanent scars, both physical and psychological, including long-term memory loss, neurological disturbances and extensive physical scarring,” Mr Fremr said.

Presiding ICC judge Robert Fremr enters the courtroom to read the sentence for to the former militia leader (Reuters)

Ntaganda testified for weeks in his own defence, saying he wanted to put the record straight about his reputation as a ruthless military leader.

He was the deputy chief of staff and commander of operations for rebel group the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo.

The force’s leader, Thomas Lubanga, was convicted by the ICC in 2012 of using child soldiers. He is serving a 14-year prison sentence.

Ntaganda earned a higher sentence because he was convicted of far more crimes.

Bosco awaiting sentencing for war crimes and crimes against humanity between 2002 and 2003 (Getty)

He has already launched an appeal against his convictions and has 30 days to appeal against his sentence.

In their unanimous 117-page ruling, the three judges said they could find no mitigating factors that warranted reducing Ntaganda’s sentence.

But they found plenty of aggravating circumstances, identifying in the murder convictions the “particular cruelty” of several crimes, the “defencelessness of some of the victims” and the fact that Ntaganda, as a high-ranking commander, personally murdered a man in front of his subordinates.

Xavier Macky, executive director of the human rights group Justice Plus in Bunia, Congo, said he wants victims to receive compensation.

“This sentence will help heal not only survivors but those who lost their loved ones during the atrocities of Bosco Ntaganda,” Mr Macky said.

Under the court’s rules, victims can apply for reparations. The court said in a statement that “issues related to the procedure for victims’ reparations will be addressed in due course”.

The Hague-based court was set up to prosecute atrocities around the world where national authorities are unable or unwilling to hold trials.

It has faced opposition and criticism, most notably from the US, which is not a member state of the court.

President Donald Trump’​s former national security adviser, John Bolton, last year said the US wouldn’t cooperate with the court, adding that “for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us”.