Two former Congolese militia leaders have been transferred from the Netherlands to a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Thomas Lubanga and Germain Katanga are the first International Criminal Court (ICC) convicts to be allowed to serve sentences in their home country.
Lubanga, a former warlord, is serving 14 years for his crimes, while militia chief Katanga is due to be released in 2016.
The ICC has said that it will help supervise their imprisonment in the DRC.
The court, in a statement, said that Lubanga and Katanga “have both expressed a preference to serve their respective prison terms in DRC, their country of origin.”
The detention in the African country must however conform to the international norms on the treatment of prisoners, it said.
Lubanga was once one of the most feared rebel leaders in the gold-rich northeastern Ituri region of the DRC. He was found guilty of abducting children as young as 11 and using them to fight his battles.
Katanga was convicted for his involvement in a bloody massacre that left hundreds of villagers dead. Last month, the ICC cut Katanga’s 12-year prison term after he voiced regret and for good behaviour.
Lubanga’s request for early release was however rejected by the ICC as “unjustified”.
The ethnic conflict in Ituri between 1999 and 2003 is estimated to have killed 50,000 people.
