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.
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).
For four hours and thirty minutes, the Office of the ICC Prosecutor led by Senior Trial Lawyer, Benjamin Gumpert presented to the judges a wrap up of key issues that had already been presented during the course of 231 day trial that started on December 6, 2016.
Fadi Abdallah, the ICC Spokesperson, however says they can only work on cases that are referred to them and not political statements and things that are not yet before court.
His lead lawyer, Crispus Ayena Odongo describes the former warlord as a fast learner, saying he has used his time in custody to learn English and is now pursuing music. According to Ayena, Ogwen can now comfortably communicate with his defense team in English without any interpreter, which shows his learning capacity.
Media reports indicate that Otti was killed by Kony for allegedly spying for the Government. Isaac Okwir, who works for the Justice and Reconciliation project, asked why court has delayed to confirm Ottis death yet some people who returned from the bush claim to have witnessed the brutal killing.
According to Adek, although Kony didnt transform, his eyes would turn red and on many cases he would foretell especially danger. Adek says Kony warned his troops to vacate certain places and not to go there and all these things came to happen
According to Ayena, the camps became soft targets for LRA rebels who were looking for livelihood and weapons. After forcing people from their villages into concentrated camps were the LRA previously derived food and other necessity, the only gateway to such livelihood including food became attacking the military rings around the camps, Ayena said.
Bemba had been convicted by trial chamber III of the International Criminal Court in 2016 and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He had been found guilty of a devastating campaign of rape, murder and torture in the Central African Republic.
Through their legal representatives, victims are accorded participation right to consult the record of the files, right to be notified of documents filed, general right to attend and participate in case hearings, make written submissions or observations and question witnesses. Trial Chambers might grant additional rights.
The ruling follows a plea by local leaders in Northern Uganda and relatives to rebels in the Lord\'s Resistance Army who have been advocating for a traditional justice system instead of modern courts of law in the trial of the arrested LRA commanders.
The International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court has said it is preparing to pronounce itself on the constitutional court ruling last directing for Col. Thomas Kwoyelo’s release.
