However, in an appeals judgement delivered by Presiding Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, the appeals chamber rejected 14 grounds of the appeal raised by Ongwen’s representative.
In a press statement released by the court Thursday, the court announced judgement on the appeal will be delivered in an open court room in The Hague Netherlands. Five judges will preside over the hearing of the judgement.
In a reparation decision made on Wednesday, the Judges at the Trial Chamber IX noted that the reparation will be made collectively to the victims given the magnitude of the atrocities and the number of victims.
According to a statement issued by the ICC, the Presidency of the ICC on November 9 this year designated Norway as the State of enforcement for the sentence of imprisonment of Ongwen, according to article 103 of the Rome Statute.
Ongwen was sentenced to 25 years in jail on 6th, May, 2021 by the ICC’s Trial Chamber IX after being convicted on 61 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The crimes were committed in Northern Uganda between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2005.
Maria Mabinty Kamara, the ICC Outreach Officer for Uganda, told URN in an interview Tuesday that the additional information will help determine the type and modalities of reparations the judges could decide upon.
On Thursday while delivering a verdict on the conviction appeal, the presiding Judge of the appeals Chamber Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza rejected all the grounds raised by the accused lawyer challenging his conviction during a verdict.
Ongwen was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment by the ICC in May last year after being found guilty of a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Ayena withdrew from further representing Ongwen at the global court. The Ugandan lawyer had been Ongwen’s lead defense lawyer since his appointment in February 2015.
Ongwen said that the physical and psychological torture he underwent while in the bush including being forced to drink human blood and eat human flesh, left him with permanent trauma.
The grounds raised to challenge the Trial judgment include the Chamber’s conducting proceedings based on a Confirmation of Charges Decision which was legally defensive, violation of Ongwen’s right to notice by expanding the material, temporal and geographic scope of the charges beyond the parameters of the charged crimes and relying on evidence of acts not charged, thus "causing prejudice and making the trial unfair".
Ongwen’s defense team led by Crispus Ayena Odongo filed its appeal briefs against the conviction and sentencing of Ongwen on October 21 and 26 last year.
Ongwen 45, was found guilty of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005 while serving as a brigade commander of the LRA’s Sinia Brigade.
Ongwen who commanded the LRA’s Sinia Brigade was found guilty of 61 out of the 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for which he faced a trial before the International Criminal Court.
ICC Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said that in all attacks, the UPDF and Local Defense Unit Personnel (LDU) failed to protect civilians and fled in panic, whenever the rebels struck.
He was facing 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during attacks in Pajule IDP camp in October 2003, Odek IDP camp in April 2004, Lukodi IDP camp in May 2004, and Abok IDP camps in June 2004.
16 Years after Uganda referred the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) justice will finally be served as the ICC delivers judgment on Dominic Ongwen on 4th February.
The court was set to pronounce its judgement on the 12th January 2021 but a Monday 30th November 2020 press release indicates that the judgement will now take place on the 4th February 2021.
Ogwen whose trial started on December 6, 2016, is accused of 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Northern Uganda while with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Hohler also says the testimonies from Ongwens forced wives stand out as evidence. She says the testimonies are not ordinary as it goes beyond only the description of what happened.
