A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has handed life sentences to 11 militiamen who raped about 40 children aged between 18-months and 12-years old. Human rights groups hailed Wednesday’s verdict as a strike against the culture of impunity around sexual violence in D.R. Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war, Reuters reports. “It’s a strong signal to anyone who would contemplate this kind of offense,” Charles Cubaka Cicura, a lawyer for the victims, told the news agency. Rights groups say that between 2013 and 2016, fighters from a militia group called Djeshi ya Yesu, or the Army of Jesus, raped at least 37 girls near Kavumu village in D.R.