The International Criminal Court (ICC) hearing on whether former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander Dominic Ongwen should face trial opened on Thursday in The Hague, Netherlands.
Ongwen is facing 67 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in northern Uganda committed between 2002 and 2005.
He surrendered in January last year and was in the Central Africa republic before being transferred to the ICC.
In a live telecast watched by dozens of survivors of horrific attacks by the LRA at ten different locations in northern Uganda, Benjamin Gumpert, a senior ICC trial lawyer read out the charges against Ongwen which included war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“For well over a decade until his arrest in January 2015, Dominic Ongwen was one of the most senior commanders in the LRA,” Gumpert said.
“This was not just a civil war between people in uniform… the LRA attacked ordinary Ugandan citizens who wanted no more than to live their lives.”
ICC prosecutors are still laying out their case to make the point that Ongwen was responsible for the heinous crimes he is alleged to have committed.
Prosecution told the pre-trial chamber that Ongwen distributed women and girls among men in his brigade. And that Ongwen did this without the authority of LRA leader Joseph Kony.
Known as the White Ant, Ongwen was 10 years old, walking to school in northern Uganda when he was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel movement.
Ongwen rose through the ranks winning the loyalty of LRA leader Joseph Kony and rising to the level of a senior commander in the notorious rebel group.
The hierarchy of the LRA is now the subject of interest of the prosecution who want to prove that Ongwen was senior enough to make decisions on his own without Kony’s authorization.
Ogwen’s appearance before the pre-trial chamber is being keenly followed by locals and leaders in northern Uganda. A telecast of the trial was watched by religious and political leaders. Prominent among the mas the Bishop of Gulu Arch diocese John Baptist Odama who was among those who watched the telecast at Bomah Hotel in Gulu town.
1 Comment
ICC is a failed Court and it is a useless one. This is not to support Ongwen nor condone what Ongwen has done or not done. ICC has shown that it is selective and is picking on weak individuals. If the ICC thinks it can use Ongwen as an escape goat for all atrocities committed, it will lose much support. It shows clearly the ICC is a Corrupt institution. People all over the world have followed very well what took place in Northern Uganda and they know that it was the government committing most atrocities on civilians.