The International Criminal Court will open hearings against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, in a landmark step for international justice nearly two decades after issuing its first-ever arrest warrant for him.
On Tuesday, judges in The Hague will examine 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kony, including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery and pillaging.
The proceedings, known as a confirmation of charges hearing, will be the court’s first ever in absentia.
Although ICC rules forbid full trials without the accused present, prosecutors argue the hearings are critical to ensure a trial can proceed swiftly should Jospeph Kony finally be caught.
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They also say that bringing his alleged crimes before an international court offers a measure of recognition for victims, even in his absence.
Once a Catholic altar boy and later the self-proclaimed prophet of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Kony has eluded capture for decades.
His brutal insurgency against President Yoweri Museveni’s government left at least 100,000 dead and saw some 60,000 children abducted, according to UN estimates.
The LRA’s trail of atrocities – massacres, mutilations, and abductions –spread far beyond Uganda into Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
LRA rebel commander jailed in Uganda for war crimes in landmark case
Courtroom test
Over three days of hearings, ICC judges will assess whether the charges against Kony are sufficiently credible to advance to trial.
His defence team has dismissed the process as “an enormous expense of time, money and effort for no benefit at all”, stressing that no trial can take place unless Kony is apprehended.
But for prosecutors, the exercise has both practical and symbolic importance.
“By hearing the accusations now, the court ensures that justice will not be delayed if he is ever arrested,” one official explained, highlighting the ICC’s duty to victims as well as to the record of international law.
Kony’s case has long been central to the ICC’s identity. The 2005 arrest warrant against him was the first the court ever issued, signalling its mission to tackle the world’s worst atrocities.
Since then, several of his lieutenants have faced justice, including Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier turned commander who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2021.
In April this year, the ICC ordered €52 million in reparations for Ongwen’s victims.
ICC upholds 25-year war crimes sentence for LRA commander Ongwen
An elusive fugitive
Despite international efforts, Kony remains at large. In 2012, he became globally infamous after the viral “Kony 2012” campaign, which drew more than 100 million views on YouTube.
The campaign prompted then US president Barack Obama to send 100 special forces to support regional militaries in the hunt. Yet the mission ended in 2017 without success.
Recent UN reports suggest Kony has shifted between Sudan and the Central African Republic, pursued at times by defectors, regional armies and even Russian mercenaries.
His following, once several thousand strong, has dwindled to a handful of fighters scattered across remote terrain.
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US hunt for Kony over, justice for victims remains
Justice deferred, not denied
For communities scarred by the LRA’s violence, the hearings are a chance to see the world’s attention return to their plight.
Survivors in northern Uganda say the process may not deliver immediate justice but remains meaningful.
“Even though we have passed through a lot, we cannot lose hope,” said Stella Angel Lanam, a former abductee who now runs a victims’ support network. “At least I will get justice.”
The ICC is not expecting Kony to appear in court this week. But the fact that the judges will hear evidence against him – two decades after first issuing his warrant – sends a clear signal that the international community has not given up, and that his alleged crimes will remain on the record until justice is done.
