Victims challenge Ongwen on duress, ask court to commit him for crimes trial
Former Lord Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court at The Hague yesterday. PHOTO BY AFP
Kampala- Victims of the two-decade war in northern Uganda have asked the International Criminal Court to commit former LRA rebel commander Dominic Ongwen for trial citing sufficient evidence against him.
The victims through their legal representatives yesterday told The Hague-based court that there was no proof to show that Ongwen’s participation in the war crimes and crimes against humanity resulted from duress.
“Duress cannot be used as an excuse because he was capable of doing the necessity. The present individual is using duress as an excuse but without justification by way of affidavit,” said the lawyers.
They argued that Mr Ongwen cannot use duress to excuse himself from the big number of abduction of civilians and killing of innocent population.
Ongwen, the former commander of the LRA Sinia Brigade and one of the five top rebel commanders who were indicted over alleged charges of crimes against humanity in May 2005, was appearing before the ICC for the pre-trial proceedings for confirmation of charges against him.
He is charged with 70 counts, the largest number of counts in the court in connection with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Early this week, Ongwen through his lawyers, asked the court to dismiss the charges and discharge him claiming prosecution had failed to discharge its duty to put him to the scenes of crime where the atrocities were allegedly committed.
The ex-child soldier also said he participated in the two-decade armed rebellion in northern Uganda because he feared his leader Joseph Kony would kill him and his relations.
However, the victims’ legal representatives insisted that Ongwen willingly participated in the criminal activities and hence his arguments are unfounded.
Banking on prosecution evidence before the court, the victims asked court to consider Ongwen’s position in the rebel leadership to hold him criminally liable and share responsibility for the crimes against humanity committed in the two-decade war.
The victims also disputed Ongwen’s claims on the spiritual aspect where he had alleged that his commander-in-chief (Kony) would know his thoughts after he was initiated and that he was brainwashed because of the age at which he was abducted, saying there was no evidence to prove his argument.
Other issues disputed by the victims regard the alleged love for Mr Ongwen in the civil community and denial of marriage in the bush.
Meanwhile, the matter awaits decision of the court.
Background
On December 21, 2015, Mr Ongwen was charged with 70 crimes in addition to those set out in the warrant of arrest. The additional charges related to attacks on the Pajule IDP camp, the Odek IDP camp and the Abok IDP camp.
The counts brought against Mr Ongwen in the context of the attacks include attacks against the civilian population, murder, attempted murder, torture, cruel treatment, other inhumane acts, enslavement, outrages upon personal dignity, pillaging, destruction of property, and persecution.
The expanded charges against Mr Ongwen also include sexual and gender-based crimes committed from 2002 to 2005 in Sinia Brigade – forced marriage, rape, torture, sexual slavery, and enslavement of children under the age of 15 in Sinia Brigade.
