The International Criminal Court (ICC) has appointed a British lawyer, Peter Haynes, to represent Joseph Kony, the elusive Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels’ commander during the hearing for the confirmation of charges proceedings.
According to a statement released by The Hague based court on June 21, 2024, Haynes met all the requirements.
Among the requirements for a lawyer who wants to represent Kony in court were fluency in either English or French, competency in international or criminal law, 10 years in legal practice and free of serious criminal convictions.
Others were admitted to the list of counsel by the registrar of the ICC and be prepared to comply fully with the ICC’s code of professional conduct for counsel.
In March, ICC issued a decision on the Prosecutor’s request to hold a confirmation of charges hearing in the case against Kony for his alleged role in the over two decades’ long insurgency in northern Uganda.
The hearing of confirmation of charges hearing for Kony will be held on October 15, 2024, in his absence.
The Rome Statute allows for the confirmation of charges proceedings at the Pre-Trial stage in the absence of the suspect. However, if the charges are confirmed, the case can only proceed to trial if the accused is present before the Trial Chamber In Nov. 2023, the prosecution requested a hearing for the confirmation of 36 charges against Kony in his absence after finding that the fugitive qualified as a person who cannot be found within the meaning of Article 61(2)(b) of the Rome Statute.
