Kwoyelo’s sentencing set for Friday, what next?

GULU, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | A four-panel member of Judges at the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court of Uganda will on Friday, issue a sentencing in the case of former Lord’s Resistance Army rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo.

Kwoyelo was convicted on August 13 of committing 44 crimes comprising war crimes and crimes against humanity in a ruling delivered in Gulu City, more than 15 years after his capture by the Ugandan army.

The crimes include murder, pillaging, outrages to personal dignity, enslavement, rape, cruel treatment, and torture committed between March 1993 and January 2005 in Kilak County in present-day Amuru district. Kwoyelo has denied willful participation in the crimes.

Juliet Harty Hatanga, the ICD Deputy Registrar told Uganda Radio Network on Tuesday that with just two days left, the court will go ahead to pronounce the sentencing of Kwoyelo as scheduled if it doesn’t receive any objections. Hatanga says the panel of Judges are already deliberating on the sentencing which will be delivered at the Gulu High Court in respect of all the 44 counts of crimes for which Kwoyelo was convicted.

What next after sentencing?

According to Hatanga, the court is expected to pronounce itself on reparation after the sentencing since the case has been about the victims and accountability.

Hatanga notes that while at the International Criminal Court (ICC), an independent reparation hearing is held before a reparation order is issued, the rules of procedures at the ICD allow the judges to form any modalities to ensure the ends of justice are met.

She however says even after the reparation orders are made, it’s not an end for the victims arguing the processes handled by the registry may take a long time before the victims can finally receive reparation.

Last week, the court received an Amicus Curiae (friends of the court) application delivered by the representative of the Foundation for Justice and Development Initiative (FJDI) making a case for reparation of victims.

Lino Owor Ogora, the Executive Director of FDJI, said the sole purpose of the application was to advise the court that the conviction of Kwoyelo holds no meaning unless reparation is delivered to the victims.

Henry Komakech Kilama, the victim’s defence lawyer told URN in an interview that once the court makes a pronouncement on the reparation order, they will have to conduct an assessment of the case locations. He notes that the assessment will help to determine authentic to come up with authentic numbers of victims, and how much property they lost during the conflict in the case locations in Lamogi and Pabbo Sub-counties.

But Jane Magdalene Amooti, the victim’s defence counsel in her submission last week told the court that while sentencing is another form of reparation, the lack of a reparation framework is a challenge and leaves the victims in a total dilemma.

She prayed to the court to issue an order for alternative means of how the victims will receive reparation through investigating the source of Kwoyelo’s income and rechanneling undisclosed money awarded to Kwoyelo by The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2018.

The award was made in 2018 following a ruling in which the court found that the Ugandan government illegally detained Kwoyelo violating his right to a fair trial.

Prosecutors last week in their sentencing submission asked the court to imprison Kwoyelo for life arguing that his crimes caused extensive suffering to civilians and would serve as a deterrent to future would-be perpetrators.

The defence in their mitigating submission asked for the acquittal of the convict arguing he was a victim of forced abduction whose 16 years behind bars should be considered as reformative enough.

While making his last appeal to the court last week, Kwoyelo asked for forgiveness over his crimes and prayed for a lenient sentence from the judges.

Kwoyelo is the first senior LRA commander convicted by a domestic court concerning atrocities committed by the LRA in Northern Uganda.

Similarly, in May 2021, The International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced to 25 years former LRA Commander Dominic Ongwen who was convicted of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between July 2002 and December 2005.

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URN