Written by Lisa Murimi
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened historic war crimes hearings in absentia against Joseph Kony, the elusive Ugandan rebel leader whose Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is accused of killing more than 100,000 people and abducting 60,000 children.
Kony, indicted in 2005 as the ICC’s first suspect, faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, enslavement, and sexual slavery.
The charges cover atrocities committed in northern Uganda between July 2002 and December 2005.
The hearings, which began Tuesday in The Hague, mark the first time the ICC has proceeded against a suspect without them being present.
A trial, however, cannot take place in absentia under court statutes. Judges will decide within 60 days whether the charges merit a full trial, should Kony ever be captured.
Survivors of LRA atrocities said the hearings offer a sense of justice, even if Kony remains at large.
“Will the government or Kony repair me back to the way I was? No. But at least I will get justice,” said Stella Angel Lanam, who was abducted at age 10 and forced into soldiering.
Another survivor, Everlyn Ayo, recalled how rebels attacked her school when she was five.
“They killed and cooked our teachers in big drums and we were forced to eat their remains,” she told AFP. Now 39, she plans to follow the proceedings by radio in Gulu.
Kony, a former altar boy, has not been seen publicly since 2006. A UN panel last year suggested he may have relocated to a remote part of the Central African Republic after leaving Sudan.
Despite uncertainty over his fate, prosecutors insist the hearings are crucial.
