Grace Matsiko
31 October 2008
Kampala — The International Criminal Court has appointed a senior lawyer to defend LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony and two of his surviving commanders for crimes against humanity in The Hague, Netherlands.
The lawyer, Mr Jens Dieckmann, is a criminal defender in Germany.
In appointing Mr Dieckmann, the judges at the ICC are taking a major step to determine whether the ICC can try Kony, his former deputy, Vincent Otti, commanders Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen or to leave the trial to the local special division of the High Court in Kampala to try them.
Otti was killed by Kony last year in a leadership dispute. "Considering that in the present circumstances, where none of the persons for whom an arrest warrant has been issued is yet to be represented by a defence counsel, appointment of a counsel for the defence to represent those persons within the context and for the purposes of the present proceedings is in the interest of justice," the ICC presiding judge, Mr Mauro Politi, said in a notice dated October 21.
The judges directed the ICC registrar, Ms Silvana Arbia, to invite the Uganda government representatives, the prosecutor, Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Mr Dieckmann and the victims to submit their observations on the admissibility of the case by November 10.
When contacted on Tuesday, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda referred Daily Monitor to AG Khiddu Makubuya and the solicitor general who were not available for comment.
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