When on 1 December 2014 the Appeals Chamber upheld the decision of Trial Chamber I to condemn Thomas Lubanga Dyilo to 14 years of imprisonment for the enlistment and conscription of children under the age of 15, the Congolese warlord, who had already gone down in history as the first person transferred to the International Criminal Court, became also the first war criminal to serve a final sentence given by the international tribunal. At the time, he had already served 8 and a half years in the ICC’s custody since his arrest: a period that the TC decided to deduct from the sentence (see para. 108 of the 10 July 2012 Decision on sentence), with the effect that he would have been released on March 2020. In the next months, Lubanga could set another record, becoming the first person to be granted an early release under the ICC Statute.
In fact, in compliance with para. 3 of Article 110 of the Rome Statute, having Mr Lubanga served two thirds of those 14 years, on 14 July 2015 his Defence team submitted a request to the ICC, seeking a reduction of the sentence (and therefore an early release of the convict).