A lawyer for former Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo has protested the manner in which a notice for pre-trial hearing of his client has been served.
Nicholas Opiyo, one of the lawyers representing Kwoyelo who is facing numerous war crime related charges said he was served a notice at 4:10 pm on August 15 for a court appearance of his client in Gulu the next day—a distance of over 350 kilometers from Kampala—where the lawyer is based.
“I have just been served a pre-trial hearing notice for the Kwoyelo case. Service was effected upon me at 1610hours by a court clerk for a hearing in Gulu tomorrow at 9.00am,” Opiyo posted on Facebook.
‘‘I have received the notice in protest and will not make it to Gulu because it is humanly impossible. I think the manner in which this case is being conducted is rather strange. I will not be a part of an injustice when I see one,” Opiyo added.
Part of the notice that Opiyo says was served to him reads: ‘‘Take Notice that the above mentioned criminal case has been fixed for 16th day of August 2016 at 9:00AM in the forenoon for Pre-Trial hearing at or soon thereafter as the Pre-Trial can be heard at Gulu High Court”.
On Monday this week, the former LRA commander appeared before a single Judge Lady Justice Okalany for a pre-trial session for the defence and the prosecution to iron out the key issues.
But hearing of the case flopped after all the legal representatives of Kwoyelo failed to show up in court.
Opiyo said he was unware of the pre-trial hearing.
Another lawyer Caleb Alaka was quoted as saying he thought his client’s pre-trial was going to be in Kampala.
Onyango Owor, also another lawyer for Kwoyelo told Acholi Times that he was no longer part of the former LRA commander’s legal team.
Charles Kamuli, the lead prosecutor had on Monday told court that they [the prosecution] had information that Kwoyelo’s lawyers had been served.
Lady Justice Susan Okalany of the High Court concurred saying there was proof that the lawyers had been served.
Kwoyelo appeared in court on Tuesday where the Judge appointed for him new defence lawyers Dalton Opwonya and Anyuru.
The trial of Kwoyelo is the first such case before the Ugandan High Court’s International Crime Division (ICD) started in 2011 after the court was established to try crimes of international nature in 2008.
Prosecution have lined up 130 witnesses against Kwoyelo after charging him with war crimes, including murder and kidnapping in various locations in northern Uganda, on July 11, 2011 in Gulu. He denied all the charges.
