The spiritualist who is also a subsistence farmer has been registered as witness D26-0112 among the witnesses of Dominic Ongwen to be called by the defense. He is going to defend Dominic Ongwen, the first former Lords Resistance Army commander to stand trial at The Hague based court as his special witness in a group of 72 witnesses.
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Dominic Ongwen Before The International Criminal Court ICC
A male spiritualist will be flown to the International Criminal Court to testify in the Dominic Ongwen's case.
The spiritualist known as Ajwaka in Luo who is also a subsistence farmer has been registered as witness D26-0112 among the witnesses of Dominic Ongwen. The spiritualist will defend Dominic Ongwen, the first former Lord's Resistance Army-LRA commander to stand trial at The Hague based court as his special witness in a group of 72 witnesses.
The trial has been scheduled to resume on September 18 with opening statement of the defense team led by Ugandan lawyer Krispus Ayena Odongo.
Ayena Odongo, the lead lawyer of Ongwen says they have applied to the court to have the spiritualist testify under protective measures because of the sensitive nature of his work.
In an edited document submitted to the court early this month, Ayena said that the witness fears that if his identity is known, the problems will resurface, especially since he will testify about an event which has been redacted in the document. He said the defense is requesting a face and name distortion for the witness.
According to Ayena, the Holy Spirit Movement actively hunted and killed the Ajwaka during the early days according to three other witnesses they have interviewed.
The subject of spirits possessing Joseph Kony has been a controversial topic of discussion as well as academic thesis and books since he launched a brutal guerrilla war in 1987.
Paul Jackson, a professor of African politics at the University of Birmingham told Radio France International shortly after the intelligence officer testified at the court that Kony's guerrilla war is the most mystical he has studied on the African continent.
Jackson said "Kony is the sort of individual that you need to be extremely careful with. Of all the sorts of African insurgency movements, this is the most mystical of all of them, and in a way, he is the sort of a high priest."
In May 2017, an intelligence officer in the ranks of LRA said that Kony was possessed by spirits.
The fighter testified as prosecution witness number P-142 in the on-going trial of former LRA Commander Ongwen saying that Kony was possessed by up to seven spirits with whom he had regular communication.
When Thomas Obhof, a defense counsel representing Ongwen asked him about three others known as Silver, Jim Brickey and Bianca, the witness said he could not recall hearing about these spirits Kony is said to have communicated with.
Peter Labeja
Guest
