Former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo was found guilty of 44 offences, including crimes against humanity, on Tuesday in Uganda’s first trial of an LRA member, marking a historic moment for the East African country.

Thomas Kwoyelo, who was charged for crimes committed during a bloody two-decade LRA rebellion in northern Uganda, had been waiting for years behind bars for a verdict in the landmark case.

The charges included murder, rape, torture, pillaging, abduction and destruction of settlements for internally displaced people, the judge said.

Kwoyelo, who was abducted by the LRA at the age of 12, had denied all the charges against him.

A low-level commander in the militia, Kwoyelo was arrested in March 2009 in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a sweep by regional forces against LRA rebels who had fled from Uganda two years earlier.