The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has upheld the court’s decisions to hold confirmation of charges proceedings against the fugitive leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony, in absentia.
The Pre-Trial Chamber III had, in an October 29, 2024 decision, concluded that all the requirements to hold the confirmation of hearing in the absence of Kony had been met. The hearing is scheduled for September 9 this year at the Hague-based Court in the Netherlands.
Kony’s defence team led by Peter Haynes KC however on April 3 this year had appealed against the decision to hold the hearing in Kony’s absence. He reasoned that holding the proceeding without Kony’s physical presence won’t renew or sustain efforts to bring Kony before the Court and will negatively impact ongoing repatriation and reconciliation efforts in Northern Uganda.
However, in a majority decision delivered Tuesday in an open court hearing, the Appeals Chamber presided by Judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin confirmed Pre-Trial Chamber III’s decision. The judges ruled that the ICC Rome Statute allows for the confirmation of charges hearing to proceed without requiring a suspect’s prior initial appearance in circumstances in which the suspect he or she “cannot be found.
“The Appeals Chamber found that this interpretation is consistent with the object and purpose of the Statute and that it is not incompatible with the rights of the defence” the judges ruled. Adding that “It found that, indeed, the ICC Rome Statute provides adequately robust safeguards to protect the suspect’s fair trial rights even in cases where such an initial appearance has not taken place,”
Other judges in the Appeals Chamber were Ugandan Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, Kimberly Prost, Joanna Korner, and Gocha Lordkipanidze. The Appeals Chamber’s decision marks the ICC’s maiden step in the court’s history in holding a confirmation of charges hearing against suspects in their absence. The prosecution believes this would serve to expedite the case against Kony if found and handed to the court in the future.
Confirmation of charges hearings are not trials. Its purpose is to determine if a case has sufficient evidence for a trial to start. In Kony’s case, if any charges are confirmed, the case may be committed for trial before the ICC judges, but only if the suspect is physically present. Kony, a notorious warlord who founded the LRA in 1986, which ravaged Northern Uganda for over two decades, is facing 33 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Northern Uganda between 2003 and 2004.
12 of the counts of crimes against humanity includes murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement, rape, inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering. 21 counts of war crime involve murder, cruel treatment of civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, pillaging, inducing rape, and forced enlistment of children. Kony has evaded arrest for nearly two decades after the World Court issued a warrant of arrest against him and four other senior LRA commanders in 2005.
Dominic Ongwen, a former LRA commander, was sentenced by the court to 25 years in jail in a ruling in 2021. He is serving his sentence in a Norwegian jail. In February 2024, the court awarded the victims of Ongwen’s atrocities in Northern Uganda a record 52 million Euro.
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