‘‘Col’’ Thomas Kwoyelo, the former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel’s commander is expected to reappear in court tomorrow before a single judge of the International Crimes Division (ICD) in his pre-trial over his alleged involvement war crimes and crimes against humanity when he was still active in the rebel ranks.
On August 15, 2016, Lady Justice Susan Okalany, the pre-trial presiding judge appointed two new lawyers after the former defence team of Kwoyelo reportedly failed to appear in court.
The judge reached the decision to appoint two new lawyers after Kwoyelo’s legal representatives did not show up at the court which was sitting at Gulu High Court.
Justice Okalany accordingly appointed; Charles Darlton Opwonya of Ms Opwonya & Co. Advocates Geoffrey Boris Anyuru of Odong & Co Advocates, a Gulu based law firm.
Nicholas Opiyo, one of the former lawyers who has been representing Kwoyelo however strongly protested reports saying that he had failed to appear in court. He instead criticised the the manner in which notice of the pre-trial hearing of his client was served to him.
According to a document signed by the High Court registrar dated August 15, 2016, Opiyo reportedly received the summons at 4:10PM (1610HR) and he was expected to appear in court the next day in court in Gulu, more than 300kms from Kampala where he is based. Opiyo protested the late notice describing it as an injustice which he (Opiyo) did not want to be part of.
Kwoyelo first appeared before the High Court in November 2011, charged with crimes against humanity.
But his trial was halted the same year following a Constitutional Court ruling that asked the state to grant him amnesty under the Amnesty Act of 2000.
However, the Attorney General appealed against the court’s decision to the Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court, the state argued that the charges against Kwoyelo are of a serious nature therefore making him illegible for amnesty.
In April 2016, the Supreme Court that Kwoyelo does not qualify for amnesty and should be tried before ICD.
The former LRA commander is charged with murder, willful killing, robbery, kidnap and destruction of property, among others, alleged to have been committed in various parts of Uganda while he was still a rebel commander.
Kwoyelo was captured in 2008 by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) after he was reportedly injured during a battle in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
