Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga and militia chief Germain Katanga were on Saturday transferred to a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo to serve out their sentences, the International Criminal Court said in a statement.
"This is the first time that the ICC designates a state to implement a sentence ordered by the court," said the ICC, which is based in The Hague.
Germain Katanga, 37, dubbed "Simba" the lion due to his ferocity, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last year by the ICC for his role in a brutal ethnic attack on a northeastern Congolese village in 2003.
In May 2014, the court found him guilty of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes over the February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro, including murder and pillage.
Katanga was accused of supplying weapons to his militia in the attack in which some 200 people were shot and hacked to death with machetes.
Lubanga, another Congolese warlord and one-time adversary of Katanga, was jailed for 14 years in July 2012 for recruiting and enlisting child soldiers.
The court's presidency "underlined that Mr Lubanga and Mr Katanga have both expressed a preference to serve their respective prison terms in DRC, their country of origin," the ICC said in a statement.
The sentences' implementation will be subject to the court's supervision and "must conform to generally accepted international norms on the treatment of prisoners," it added.
Last month, the ICC cut the 12-year prison term imposed on Katanga after he voiced regret and for good behaviour, and said he would now complete his sentence on January 18.
However Lubanga's request for early release was turned down by the ICC as "unjustified".
The Ituri region where the Bogoro massacre occurred has been riven by violence since 1999, when clashes broke out that killed at least 60,000 people, according to rights groups.
Kinshasa’s third Fashion Week kicked off on Friday,
with 19 Congolese designers presenting their collections to both local
and international audiences. FRANCE 24 met two of Kinshasa’s top
designers ahead of the annual event.
Four
people have been killed in protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo
over claims that President Joseph Kabila is seeking to extend his
14-year rule by delaying next year's elections.
Protests continued on Tuesday in the capital, Kinshasa,
following Monday's fatal clashes between opposition supporters and
security forces.
Protesters say government plans for a census are a ploy to delay elections.
Mr Kabila is constitutionally barred from contesting the poll.
The government admits the poll could be delayed, but says the census is vital to ensure free and fair elections. 'Looters killed'
The BBC's Maud Julien reports from Kinshasa that most shops
are closed and internet and telephone connections have been blocked.
The protests have turned violent, with casualties on both sides
The protesters have vowed to force Mr Kabila to step down next year
Hundreds of angry young men are burning tyres in several
neighbourhoods, looting shops and throwing rocks at cars, our reporter
says.
In the poor area of Masina on the city's outskirts, police tried to disperse protesters by shooting into the air, she adds.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende said two policemen and two "looters" were killed in Monday's clashes in Kinshasa.
Demonstrators called on Mr Kabila to step down when his term
expires and carried placards which said: "Don't touch the
constitution".
Hundreds of people protested also protested on Monday in Goma, the main trading post in the east.
Most businesses have remained closed
The protests coincided with a debate in the Senate, the upper
parliamentary chamber, over government plans to hold a census before
elections.
The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, approved the plan on Saturday, in a vote boycotted by opposition MPs.
The opposition says this amounts to a "constitutional coup"
by Mr Kabila, as it will take about three years for a census to be
conducted in DR Congo, which is two-thirds of the size of western
Europe, has very little infrastructure and is hit by instability in the
east.
DR Congo, formerly known as Zaire, has never had a reliable census since independence from Belgium in 1960.
Mr Kabila took power in 2001 following the assassination of
his father Laurent Kabila, who was president at the time, and has won
two disputed elections since then.
DR Congo is rich in resources, but most people are poor.
Eastern DR Congo is awash with a variety of different
rebel groups – some have come from neighbouring countries, while others
have formed as self-defence groups. Many are taking advantage of the
lack of a strong state to seize control of the area's mineral riches.
Home truths