Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday opened hearings to confirm charges against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
Legal analysts suggest the proceedings could serve as a model for other prominent ICC suspects who remain at large, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“(Prosecutors) are clearly looking long-term at the possibility of applying this procedure to Putin or Netanyahu if they continue to evade justice year after year,” said Michael Scharf, professor of international law at Case Western Reserve University, speaking to Reuters.
The ICC has faced criticism from powerful non-member states such as the United States, as well as from some of its own members, after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. Israel has denied the allegations and rejects the court’s jurisdiction.
The ICC issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin in March 2023, accusing him of unlawfully deporting hundreds of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin has consistently dismissed the charges.
Kony, leader of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), is the ICC’s longest-standing fugitive, with a warrant first issued against him in 2005.
Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told the court that prosecutors are seeking to indict him on 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, conscription of child soldiers, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy between 2002 and 2005.
“All of these crimes were committed by the LRA under Joseph Kony’s command,” Niang said, noting that children in northern Uganda lived in constant terror of abduction and violence during the LRA’s campaign of “systematic brutality.”
In 2022, ICC prosecutors moved to revive the case by requesting confirmation of charges hearings in Kony’s absence. After further attempts to locate him failed, judges agreed to proceed in absentia.
A three-judge panel will now decide whether to confirm the charges, with Kony’s interests represented by court-appointed lawyers.
Formed in the late 1980s with the goal of toppling the government, the LRA waged a campaign of terror across northern Uganda for nearly two decades under Kony’s leadership.
Victims of his forces welcomed progress at the ICC but voiced frustration at the absence of reparations.
“All this money being spent on a symbolic trial of a man who isn’t even here, whose whereabouts remain unknown, would be far better used to compensate us,” said Louis Lakor, a former LRA child soldier from northern Uganda, speaking to Reuters.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he thinks there is a chance of a peace being reached with Ukraine. He told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia that he believed there was "a chance of finding a solution," to the conflict.
The U.S. has launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites as Tehran retaliated against U.S. positions across the region, while Iranian officials said at least five people were killed and dozens wounded at a wedding near Sirik.
The Iranian Health Ministry said at least 18 people were killed and 142 others injured in U.S. airstrikes carried out between 30 August and 2 September.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas says the bloc will tighten enforcement of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. EU foreign ministers were meeting in Ireland following renewed Russian strikes on cities across Ukraine.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 3rd of September, covering the latest developments.
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