CAIRO, November 8 - RAPSI. A military court in Benghazi, Libya has sentenced to death in absentia five soldiers of the murdered leader Muammar Ghaddafi's army, the LANA information agency reported on Thursday.

These are the first death penalties to be handed down against the late Ghaddafi's supporters since the bloody civil war came to an end.

The agency reported that the military court has decided to apply the death penalty in the cases of all give soldiers, two of whom were high-ranking officers under the former leader. Three other soldiers were reportedly sentenced to 10 years in prison. All were accused of killing civilians and committing rape.

In February 2011, mass protests broke out in Libya demanding Ghaddafi's resignation. They escalated into an armed tug-of-war between the ruling regime and the NATO-backed opposition forces. The opposition formed the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, which it acknowledged as the only legitimate authority in the country. Ghaddafi was killed by opposition troops near Sirte on October 20, 2011.