International Criminal Court investigation in Uganda

The International Criminal Court investigation in Uganda or the situation in Uganda is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency which has been taking place in northern Uganda and neighbouring regions since 1987.^[1][2] The Lord's Resistance Army is a Christian-based group led by Joseph Kony that is accused of numerous human rights violations and war crimes including massacres, the abduction of civilians, the use of child soldiers, sexual enslavement, torture, and pillaging.^[3] After the government of Uganda referred the matter to the ICC in December 2003, warrants of arrest were issued in 2005 for Joseph Kony, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen, and Vincent Otti, who became the first people to be indicted by the Court.^[4]

Quick Facts File no., Referred by ...

Situation in Uganda

The seal of the International Criminal Court
File no.	02/04
Referred by	Uganda
Date referred	16 December 2003
Date opened	29 July 2004 (2004-07-29)
Incident(s)	LRA insurgency
Crimes	Crimes against humanity: · Enslavement · Inhumane acts · Murder · Rape · Sexual enslavement War crimes: · Attacks against civilians · Cruel treatment · Enlisting of children · Inducing of rape · Murder · Pillaging
Status of suspects
Joseph Kony	Fugitive
Raska Lukwiya	Deceased
Okot Odhiambo	Deceased
Dominic Ongwen	Serving a 25 year sentence
Vincent Otti	Fugitive, possibly deceased.

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The proceedings against Raska Lukwiya, Vincent Otti and Okot Odhiambo terminated due to their deaths.^{[5] [6]}Dominic Ongwen was caught and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.^[7] Joseph Kony is still at large, and his case currently remains at the pre-trial stage, until he is arrested and transferred to the ICC in The Hague;^[5] the ICC does not try people in absentia, not present in the courtroom.^[5]

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian-based rebel group that has been active in Uganda and neighbouring countries since 1987.^[2] The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, a former faith healer who founded the group on the theology of Alice Auma's failed Holy Spirit Movement.^[2][8] Kony claims to communicate with and receive instructions from spirits and from God.^[8] He also claims that his insurgency is for the betterment of the Acholi people, although he has been quoted as saying, "if the Acholi don't support us, they must be finished".^[8]

The government of Uganda referred the situation to the Court on 16 December 2003.^[9] The referral was communicated via a letter sent by President Yoweri Museveni to the Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo. The two met following the referral to establish the methods of cooperation between the Office of the Prosecutor and the government of Uganda. The two held a press conference in London on 29 January 2004 to publicly announce the referral.^[10] On 5 July 2004 the situation was assigned to Pre-Trial Chamber II by ICC President Philippe Kirsch.^[11] Moreno Ocampo announced the beginning of an official investigation on 29 July 2004.^[12]

Moreno Ocampo applied to Pre-Trial Chamber II for warrants of arrest for Kony, Lukwiya, Odhiambo, Ongwen and Otti on 6 May 2005 and the warrants for all five men were issued under seal on 8 July of that year. The warrants were unsealed on 13 October 2005.^[13]

The five men are all indicted in the same case and the indictment lists 33 crimes: 21 counts of war crimes (listed below as WC) and 12 counts of crimes against humanity (listed below as CAH). The statute column contains the reference to the crime in the articles of the Rome Statute. Not all of the counts apply to all of the men, however they all apply to Joseph Kony and all but one applies to Vincent Otti. The counts on the indictment are as follows.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

More information Count, CAH ...

Count	CAH	WC	Crime	Statute	Kony	Lukwiya	Odhiambo	Ongwen	Otti
1	Y	N	Sexual enslavement (and attempted)	Article 7(1)(g)	Y	N	N	N	Y
2	Y	N	Rape	Article 7(1)(g)	Y	N	N	N	N
3	N	Y	Inducing of rape	Article 8(2)(e)(vi)	Y	N	N	N	Y
4	N	Y	Attack against a civilian population	Article 8(2)(e)(i)	Y	N	N	N	Y
5	N	Y	Enlisting of children	Article 8(2)(e)(vii)	Y	N	N	N	Y
6	Y	N	Enslavement	Article 7(1)(c)	Y	Y	N	N	Y
7	N	Y	Cruel treatment	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	Y	N	N	Y
8	N	Y	Attack against a civilian population	Article 8(2)(e)(i)	Y	Y	N	N	Y
9	N	Y	Pillaging	Article 8(2)(e)(v)	Y	Y	N	N	Y
10	Y	N	Murder	Article 7(1)(a)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
11	Y	N	Enslavement	Article 7(1)(c)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
12	N	Y	Murder	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
13	N	Y	Enlisting of children	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
14	N	Y	Attack against a civilian population	Article 8(2)(e)(i)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
15	N	Y	Pillaging	Article 8(2)(e)(v)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
16	Y	N	Murder	Article 7(1)(a)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
17	N	Y	Murder	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
18	N	Y	Attack against a civilian population	Article 8(2)(e)(i)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
19	N	Y	Pillaging	Article 8(2)(e)(v)	Y	N	Y	N	Y
20	Y	N	Murder	Article 7(1)(a)	Y	N	N	N	Y
21	Y	N	Enslavement	Article 7(1)(c)	Y	N	N	N	Y
22	Y	N	Inhumane acts	Article 7(1)(k)	Y	N	N	N	Y
23	N	Y	Murder	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	N	N	Y
24	N	Y	Cruel treatment	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	N	N	Y
25	N	Y	Attack against a civilian population	Article 8(2)(e)(i)	Y	N	N	N	Y
26	N	Y	Pillaging	Article 8(2)(e)(v)	Y	N	N	N	Y
27	Y	N	Murder	Article 7(1)(a)	Y	N	N	Y	Y
28	Y	N	Enslavement	Article 7(1)(c)	Y	N	N	Y	Y
29	Y	N	Inhumane acts	Article 7(1)(k)	Y	N	N	Y	Y
30	N	Y	Murder	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	N	Y	Y
31	N	Y	Cruel treatment	Article 8(2)(c)(i)	Y	N	N	Y	Y
32	N	Y	Attack against a civilian population	Article 8(2)(e)(i)	Y	N	N	Y	Y
33	N	Y	Pillaging	Article 8(2)(e)(v)	Y	N	N	Y	Y

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The prosecution of the five suspects was initially consolidated into one case. Raska Lukwiya was dropped as a defendant following the confirmation of his death.