THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court gave a final green light Tuesday for the tribunal’s first in absentia hearing by allowing the next step in proceedings against notorious fugitive Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.
The Hague-based court has scheduled a so-called confirmation of charges hearing, at which prosecutors will present evidence in September to support charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kony, despite his whereabouts being unknown.
Kony, the leader of the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, faces dozens of counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, sexual enslavement, and rape.
The ICC’s rules do not allow trials entirely in absentia, but in some circumstances, they permit confirmation of charges hearings to proceed even if the suspect is not in custody.
Kony’s court-appointed lawyers had argued that his fair trial rights would be violated if proceedings continued without their client.
Judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin said the court has “adequately robust safeguards” in place for suspects, allowing the confirmation of charges hearing to be held in absentia.
The case has been seen as a test run for the court to potentially move forward with other cases where the suspect is not in custody, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the Kony decision is limited to situations where the wanted person has fled ICC custody or cannot be found, said Luigi Prosperi, an international criminal law expert at the University of Utrecht. Kony “is a very peculiar situation,” he told our Reporter.
Kony was thrust into the global spotlight in 2012 when a video about his alleged crimes went viral. Despite the attention and international efforts to capture him, he remains at large.
The LRA began its attacks in Uganda in the 1980s, when Kony sought to overthrow the government. After being pushed out of Uganda, the militia terrorized villages in Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. It was notorious for using child soldiers, mutilating civilians, and enslaving women.
In 2021, the court convicted Dominic Ongwen — a one-time child soldier who became a brutal LRA commander — of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages.
