Agency
The long-awaited trial of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony can only proceed if he is arrested or surrenders, the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has reiterated.
Kony, wanted since 2005, remains the Court’s longest-standing fugitive.
He has eluded capture for more than three decades, prompting the Court to confirm charges against him in absentia, a ruling that, according to ICC prosecutors, marked a major milestone that keeps hope alive for thousands of victims in northern Uganda who endured abductions, attacks on camps for the displaced, and other atrocities committed under Kony’s command.
Speaking at a press conference in Kampala on Friday, Dahirou Sant-Anna, the ICC’s International Cooperation Adviser, recalled that the Prosecutor first sought confirmation of charges in absentia in November 2022 as a way to advance the long-stalled case.
Sant-Anna described the decision as “positive and historic,” noting that while it completes the confirmation phase, a full trial is impossible unless Kony is arrested or voluntarily surrenders.
The Rome Statute explicitly prohibits trials in absentia, even though it allows pretrial proceedings without the accused present.
