Agency
The Defence team of elusive Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel leader Joseph Kony have arrived in Northern Uganda, the epicentre of the two-decade LRA insurgencies to engage with key stakeholders on the case of Kony before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Led by Peter Hayne, Kony’s lead defence lawyer, the team visited Gulu City on Wednesday where they held a closed-door meeting with the Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Acana II at his Palace.
The defence team’s visit comes weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber III judges announced late last month it will proceed to confirm charges against Kony in his absence.
Kony is facing 33 counts of crimes comprising war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in 2003 and 2004 in northern Uganda.
Wednesday’s visit by the defence team of Kony is the first since November 2022 when ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan sought to reopen the case against the LRA commander who has evaded arrest since 2005 when a warrant of arrest was issued against him.
Michael Otim, the Prime Minister of the Acholi Cultural Institution told Mega Fm in an interview Thursday that the meeting was aimed at getting the institution’s perspective on how the community views the reopening of Kony’s case.
Kony who founded the LRA waged a bloody rebellion in Northern Uganda aimed at toppling the government of President Yoweri Museveni.
