DPP Fights to Prevent Miscarriage of Justice in Kwoyelo Trial

The slow pace of the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo, a  former commander of the Lord's Resistance Army-LRA, is to prevent a miscarriage of justice, according to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Kwoyelo faces 67 Charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity before the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court. He has been in detention at Luzira Maximum Prison since he was captured by the Uganda People's Defense Forces-UPDF in 2008.

But the process of his trial has stagnated at the pre-trial stage for at least a decade. Initially, the trial delayed as a result of objections raised by his legal team arguing that he was entitled to amnesty and only moved forward after the Supreme Court dismissed their application.

However, the start of the main trial also remains uncertain due to persistent delays in the confirmation of the charges. Last year, a series of pre-trial hearings flopped reportedly because of a lack of funds.

Another scheduled confirmation hearing that was due to take place last month flopped after lawyer Charles Dalton Opwonya informed the court that the defence team was not ready to proceed in the absence of their colleagues Caleb Alaka and Evans Ochieng. The two lawyers have reportedly missed the last three sessions without any communication. Earlier, Human Rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo withdrew his interest in the case.

But Justice Mike Chibita, the Director of Public Prosecution told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that the complexity of the case demands that it should be treated with utmost care adding that delays are meant to generate a solid foundation of jurisprudence for the future domestic trial of international crimes against humanity.

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Justice Chibita says his team and the judiciary wants to ensure that the right charges are prescribed for the actual crimes committed by Thomas Kwoyelo.

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According to Justice Chibita, the prosecution is fully prepared to expedite the trial since the state is also willing to provide Kwoyelo with a new set of lawyers to prevent further delays.

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Supreme court Judge Stella Arach Amoko who is also chairperson of judiciary training committee says the judiciary is keen to learn as much as possible from the Kwoyelo trial for the future of the country. She says the matter has also suffered from the usual cancer of inadequate manpower and funding which affect most cases in the country.

Kwoyelo was enlisted in the LRA rebel group under the overall command of Joseph Kony, which had waged an armed rebellion against the government of Uganda in 1987. The prosecution alleges that in March 1993, under his command, a group of rebel's attacked villages killed, maimed and abducted civilians who were enlisted into the LRA ranks.  Those who failed on grounds of illness were reportedly executed.