Two week delay in Dominic Ongwen trial

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Judges have delayed the resumption of the trial of former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court  by another two weeks.

The next segment of the trial of Ongwen had been scheduled to resume on Monday after two months of judicial recess. The conditions under which the proceeding was delayed remain undisclosed.

Maria Mabinty Kamara, the Head of ICC Uganda Field Outreach office says the judges of Trial Chamber IX made the adjustment on Friday. She said the conditions under which the judges adjusted the court calendar have not been made public.

“The judges make such decisions as and when they deem fit. And it could have been made for several reasons for which we can’t speculate,” she said by phone from Kampala.

Maria says screening in the trail will resume in Northern Uganda when the next segment of the trial commences. Ongwen was scheduled to call his next set of defense witnesses to try and convince the Court of his innocence in the 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against him.

He is alleged to have committed these crimes between July 2002 and December 2005 in northern Uganda while serving as the commander of the Sinia Brigade of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

During their opening statements on September 18 last year, Ongwen’s lawyers argued that he should be acquitted of all charges against him.

He opened his defense on October 1st last 2018. The matter before trial Chamber IX is being heard by judges of the Chamber namely Bertram Schmitt, Judges Péter Kovács, and Raul C. Pangalangan.

To date, the judges have heard evidence from 14 defense witnesses over a period of 19 days.

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