By Justine Okwanga | The International Criminal Court (ICC) has begun confirmation hearings on 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the elusive Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) chief commander, Joseph Kony.
The hearings, which opened on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, are being conducted in Kony’s absence. The charges stem from atrocities allegedly committed between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2005, when the LRA waged a brutal insurgency in northern Uganda.
The proceedings are presided over by Judge Althea Violet Alexis Windsor and commenced at 11 a.m. The ICC appointed British lawyer Peter Haynes as lead counsel to safeguard Kony’s rights and interests before the court.
Two Ugandan judges, Boris Anyuru and Atim Lillian Beatrice, are part of the defence team working under Haynes.
However, Anyuru told the court that they have no direct contact with Kony and are unaware that he knows of their role in defending him. “We were not supposed to appear before this court to defend Kony, but since the ICC directed us, we complied,” he said.
His colleague, Atim Lillian Beatrice, argued that Uganda now has a Transitional Justice court capable of trying Kony locally, suggesting that justice could be better served if the case were repatriated.
Representing victims, Sarah Pellet, head of the Legal Representatives of Victims, delivered an emotional account of the atrocities committed by Kony and the LRA.
She recalled the abduction of 70 schoolgirls from Lwala Girls Secondary School in 2003 and attacks on seven internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, including Pajule, Pagak, Lukodi, Odek, Abok, Barlonyo, and Abia between 2003 and 2004.
“These crimes inflicted unbearable suffering on innocent communities,” Pellet said, adding that the LRA leader orchestrated abductions, rapes, sexual slavery, forced marriages, and pregnancies among women and girls.
Other charges include the recruitment of child soldiers, mass killings, looting, and other forms of inhumane treatment.
Pellet insisted that Kony committed the crimes intentionally and in full mental capacity. “He was sound-minded and deliberate. The victims deserve justice,” she emphasised.
An arrest warrant was issued in 2005 against Kony and four top commanders: Vincent Otii, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen.
While Otii, Lukwiya, and Odhiambo later died, leading to the termination of their charges, Ongwen was arrested in 2015. In 2021, Ongwen was convicted on 61 of 70 counts and sentenced to 25 years.
Kony, however, has remained at large for nearly two decades. His whereabouts remain unknown, though rumours have linked him to the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo at various times.
Despite his absence, the ICC is pushing forward with the confirmation hearings, which will run until Thursday, September 11, 2025. The court will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to a full trial.
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