Initially, the ICC had scheduled the confirmation of charges hearing against Kony on October 15 but was postponed in September following the Defence, Prosecution, and Office of the Public Counsel for Victims observations to ensure proper procedure and evidence presentation.
LRA leader Joseph Kony. AFP Photo
The International Criminal Court
(ICC) has said it will proceed to hold confirmation of charges hearing against
Lord’s Resistance Army rebel leader Joseph Kony in his absence.
The elusive LRA leader is facing 33
counts of crimes comprising war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly
committed in 2003 and 2004 in northern Uganda.
Initially, the ICC had scheduled
the confirmation of charges hearing against Kony on October 15 but was
postponed in September following the Defence, Prosecution, and Office of the Public Counsel
for Victims observations to ensure proper procedure and evidence presentation.
On Tuesday, the ICC Pre-Trial
Chamber III announced in a decision that all conditions to hold confirmation of
charges hearing in the absence of the suspect Joseph Kony had been met. No new date
has however been announced.
The decisions were arrived at by
the chamber composed of Judges Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor, Presiding Judge,
Iulia Antoanella Motoc and Haykel Ben Mahfoudh.
They found that Kony is a person
who ‘cannot be found’ within the meaning of Article 61(2)(b) of the ICC Rome
Statute.
"All reasonable steps to secure
his appearance and to inform him of the charges and the date of the
confirmation of charges hearing, initially scheduled for 15 October 2024, have
been taken, and there is cause to hold the confirmation of charges hearing in
absentia,” the Judges decided.
The chamber also noted that a large-scale
media campaign conducted both in Uganda and the neighbouring countries in the Acholi
language had been conducted by the ICC registry as one of the requirements to notify
Kony of the date of the hearing.
The Rome Statute allows for the
confirmation of charges proceedings at the Pre-Trial stage in the absence of
the suspect, under specific conditions. If the charges are confirmed, the case
can only proceed to trial if the accused is present before the Trial Chamber.
Kony was indicted by the ICC in
2005 along with four other senior commanders of the LRA over his bloody two-decade
campaign in Northern Uganda seeking to oust Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
He remains the longest-standing suspect still on the run wanted by the ICC.
Cases against Raska Lukwiya, Okot
Odhiambo and Vince Otti have since been dropped after confirmation of their
death while Dominic Ongwen was convicted of 61 counts of war crimes and crimes against
humanity and sentenced to 25 years in jail in May 2021.
Bureau Chief, West Acholi